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He hath been bitten by the Tarantula.1 All in the Wrong. Many years ago I contracted an intimacy with a Mr, William Legrand. He was of an ancient Huguenot? family, and had once been wealthy; but a series of misfortunes had reduced him to want. To avoid the mortification consequent upon his disasters, he left New Orleans, the city of his forefathers, and took up his residence at Sullivan’s Island, near Charleston, South Carolina. This island is a very singular one. It consists of little else than the sea sand, and is about three miles long. Its breadth at no point exceeds a quarter of a mile. It is separated from the mainland by a scarcely perceptible creek, oozing its way through a wilderness of reeds and slime, a favorite resort of the marsh-hen. The vegetation, as might be supposed, is scant, or at least dwarfish. No trees of any magnitude are to be seen. Near the western extremity, where Fort Moultrie? stands, and where are some miserable frame buildings, ten- anted, during the summer, by the fugitives from Charleston dust and fever, may be found, indeed, the bristly palmetto; but the whole island, with the exception of this western point, and a line of hard, white beach on the seacoast, is covered with a dense undergrowth of the sweet myrtle, so much prized by the 1 Bitten by the Tarantula. Tarantism, a nervous disease producing a mad desire to dance, was formerly believed to be caused by the bite of the tarantula, a large spider popularly considered exceedingly venomous. 2 Huguenot family, In the seventeenth century many French Protestants sought in America refuge from the persecution which drove them from their own country. 3 Fort Moultrie, erected in 1776, was named for the American officer under whose command it was bravely defended against the British troops. 3 CoA SEPE FSS TRAST = eee ane Seam es OR Oaeee be tas ora aasenemaes mad =f SIS PaaS ESE ese so tithe or tere pega beiees ig ese wees Seog Fea ee TS ere See Ss EEE LOSES eee erty need 3341 e ETS Pea aT a ERRATA TS ES SS aTHE GOLD-BUG horticulturists of England. The shrub here often attains the height of fifteen or twenty feet, and forms an almost impene- trable coppice, burthening’ the air with its fragrance. In the utmost recesses of this coppice, not far from the east- ern or more remote end of the island, Legrand had built himself a small hut, which he occupied when I first, by mere acci- dent, made his acquaintance. This soon ripened into friend- ship, for there was much in the recluse to excite interest and esteem. I found him well educated, with unusual powers of mind, but infected with misanthropy,” and subject to perverse moods of alternate enthusiasm and melancholy. He had with him many books, but rarely employed them. His chief amuse- ments were gunning and fishing, or sauntering along the beach and through the myrtles, in quest of shells or entomological*® specimens,—his collection of the latter might have been envied by a Swammerdam.* In these excursions he was usually ac- companied by an old negro, called Jupiter, who had been man- umitted® before the reverses of the family, but who could be in- duced, neither by threats nor by promises, to abandon what he considered his right of attendance upon the footsteps of his young “ Massa Will.” It is not improbable that the relatives of Legrand, conceiving him to be somewhat unsettled in intel- lect, had contrived to instill this obstinacy into Jupiter, with a view to the supervision and guardianship of the wanderer. The winters in the latitude of Sullivan’s Island are seldom very severe, and in the fall of the year it is a rare event indeed when a fire is considered necessary. About the middle of Octo- ber, 18—, there occurred, however, a day of remarkable Coppice: a grove of small growth. Burthening: burdening [archaic]. TE SOR ORS an aversion for the society of his fellow-men; a hatred for man- ind. Entomological. Entomology is that branch of zodlogy which treats of insects. Swammerdam: a Dutch naturalist and anatomist of the seventeenth century, whose collection of insects was famous. Manumitied: freed by his owner from slavery. Oo mw beSF eee en eens ea Lan ene ereregen tetseeee tee see eereee teteae tire entre reeeeeeee SaraSatusest an etires eae eepeaeses s Sap etait easn eters eeee wesererss Te COUD-BuG 5 chilliness. Just before sunset I scrambled my way through the evergreens to the hut of my friend, whom I had not visited for several weeks,—my residence being at that time in Charleston, a distance of nine miles from the island, while the facilities of Passage and re-passage were very far behind those of the pres- ent day. Upon reaching the hut I tapped, as was my custom, and getting no reply, sought for the key where I knew it was secreted, unlocked the door, and went in. A fine fire was blaz- ing upon the hearth. It was a novelty, and by no means an ungrateful one. I threw off an Overcoat, took an armchair by the crackling logs, and awaited patiently the arrival of my hosts. Soon after dark they arrived, and gave me a most cordial welcome. Jupiter, grinning from ear to ear, bustled about to prepare some marsh-hens for supper. Legrand was in one of his fits—how else shall I term them?—of enthusiasm. He had found an unknown bivalve, forming a new genus, and, more than this, he had hunted down and secured, with Jupiter’s as- sistance, a scarabeust which he believed to be totally new, but in respect to which he wished to have my Opinion on the mor- row. “And why not to-night?” I asked, rubbing my hands over the blaze, and wishing the whole tribe of scarabei at the devil. “Ah, if I had only known you were here!” said Legrand, “Dut it’s so long since I saw you; and how could I foresee that you would pay me a visit this very night of all others? As I was coming home I met Lieutenant G , from the fort, and, very foolishly, I lent him the bug; so it will be impossible for you to see it until the morning. Stay here to-night, and I will send Jup down for it at sunrise. It is the loveliest thing in creation! ” “What !—sunrise? ” 1 Scarabeus [Latin]: a beetle. Plural, scarabei, 2 gSSETE Fi Tae PATE EST TST ASS CEOS CEES IETS EE TERT EE TSE SS BPR ita ratte tsi tastes eee < SSS eee 5 eet Sats eens os meee wee naan sa GRR ROR Hac REETHE GOLD-BUG “ Nonsense! no!—the bug. It is of a brilliant gold color— about the size of a large hickory-nut—with two jet-black spots near one extremity of the back, and another, somewhat longer, at the other. The antenne are ’’— “Dey ain’t no tin in him, Massa Will, I keep a tellin’ on you,” here interrupted Jupiter; “de bug is a goole-bug, solid, ebery bit of him, inside and all, ’sep him wing—neber feel half so hebby a bug? in my life.” “Well, suppose it is, Jup,” replied Legrand, somewhat more earnestly, it seemed to me, than the case demanded; “ is that any reason for your letting the birds burn? The color ”—here he turned to me—‘‘is really almost enough to warrant Jupiter’s idea. You never saw a more brilliant metallic luster than the scales emit—but of this you cannot judge till to-morrow. In the meantime I can give you some idea of the shape.” Saying this, he seated himself at a small table, on which were a pen and ink, but no paper. He looked for some in a drawer, but found none. “ Never mind,” said he, at length, “this will answer ”; and he drew from his waistcoat pocket a scrap of what I took to be very dirty foolscap, and made upon it a rough drawing with the pen. While he did this I retained my seat by the fire, for I was still chilly. When the design was complete, he handed it to me without rising. As I received it, a loud growl was heard, succeeded by a scratching at the door. Jupiter opened it, and a large Newfoundland, belonging to Legrand, rushed in, leaped upon my shoulders, and loaded me with caresses; for I had shown him much attention during previous visits. When his gambols were over, I looked at the paper, and, to speak the truth, found myself not a little puzzled at what my friend had depicted. 1 Neber feel half so hebby a bug. One who is familiar with the speech of the outhern darky feels at once the unnaturalness of much of Jupiter’s conversa- tion. TESTS TSE Ta ED oa CSTE EDED TS PS ISEDTRPLIT ERSTE ORES Th eT eT ee -. eee aru Se eae ae ee oes ors sates se asie st ee treetSee teers ee pee rrs sate eh eetenst eat eee ese s tan wanes teen toeearesuete qisietesen Sitter THE GOLD-BUG 7 “Well!” I said, after contemplating it for some minutes, “this 1s a strange scarabeus, I must confess: new to me; never saw anything like it before—unless it was a skull, or a death’s- head—which it more nearly resembles than anything else that has come under my observation.” “A death’s-head!” echoed Legrand. “ Oh—yes—well, it has something of that appearance upon paper, no doubt. The two upper black spots look like eyes, eh? and the longer one at the bottom like a mouth—and then the shape of the whole is oval.” * Perhaps so,’ satd T; but, Leorand, I fear you. are no artist. I must wait until I see the beetle itself, if I am to form any idea of its personal appearance.” “Well, I don’t know,” said he, a little nettled, “ I draw toler- ably,—should do it at least,—have had good masters, and flatter myself that I am not quite a blockhead.” “But, my dear fellow, you are joking then,” said I; “ this is a very passable skul/—indeed, I may say that it is a very excel- lent skull, according to the vulgar notions about such speci- mens of physiology1—and your scarabeus must be the queerest scarabeus in the world if it resembles it. Why, we may get up a very thrilling bit of superstition upon this hint. I presume you will call the bug scarabeus caput hominis,? or something of that kind—there are many similar titles in the Natural His- tories. But where are the antenne you spoke of?” “The antenne!” said Legrand, who seemed to be getting un- accountably warm on the subject: “JI am sure you must see the antenne. I made them as distinct as they are in the orig- inal insect, and I presume that is sufficient.” “Well, well,” I said, “perhaps you have—still I don’t see them”; and I handed him the paper without additional remark, not wishing to ruffle his temper; but I was much surprised at the turn affairs had taken; his ill-humor puzzled me—and, as 1 Physiology. What would have been a more correct term here? 2 Scarabeus caput hominis: man’s-head beetle. SSeS aE a aE Pa aa a eeereerean cage cunt TURRET TE if a4 ESR Rn RRR pe i aE tts Re oon(iad, COILID)1e5 WE, for the drawing of the beetle, there were positively no antenne visible, and the whole did bear a very close resemblance to the ordinary cuts of a death’s-head. He received the paper very peevishly, and was about to crumple it, apparently to throw it into the fire, when a casual glance at the design seemed suddenly to rivet his attention. In an instant his face grew violently red—in another as exces- sively pale. For some minutes he continued to scrutinize the drawing minutely where he sat. At length he arose, took a candle from the table, and proceeded to seat himself upon a sea-chest! in the farthest corner of the room. Here again he made an anxious examination of the paper, turning it in all directions. He said nothing, however, and his conduct greatly astonished me; yet I thought it prudent not to exacerbate? the growing moodiness of his temper by any comment. Presently he took from his coat pocket a wallet, placed the paper care- fully in it, and deposited both in a writing-desk, which he locked. He now grew more composed in his demeanor; but his original air of enthusiasm had quite disappeared. Yet he seemed not so much sulky as abstracted. As the evening wore away he became more and more absorbed in reverie, from which no sallies of mine could arouse him. It had been my in- tention to pass the night at the hut, as I had frequently done before, but, seeing my host in this mood, I deemed it proper to take leave. He did not press me to remain, but, as I departed, he shook my hand with even more than his usual cordiality. It was about a month after this (and during the interval I had seen nothing of Legrand) when I received a visit, at Charleston, from his man Jupiter. I had never seen the good old negro look so dispirited, and I feared that some serious dis- aster had befallen my friend. 1 Sea-chest: chest in which a sailor keeps kis belongings on shipboard. 2 Evxacerbate [pronounced: égz-as’er-bat]: increase and make worse; aggravate. werersse ESR Ee eRe eeeTHE GOLD-BUG “Well, Jup,” said I, “ what is the matter now ?~how is your master?” “ Why, to speak de troof, massa, him not so berry well as mought be.” “ Not well! Iam truly sorry to hear it. What does he com- plain of?” * Dat! dat’s it!—him nebber ’plain of notin’—but him berry Sick fon allédat., “Very sick, Jupiter !—why didn’t you say so at once? Is he confined to bed?” “ No, dat he ain’t!—he ain’t ’find nowhar—dat’s just whar de shoe pinch—my mind is got to be berry hebby ’bout poor Massa Will.” “ Jupiter, I should like to understand what it is you are talk- ing about. You say your master is sick. Hasn’t he told you what ails him?” “Why, massa, ’t ain’t worf while for to get mad ’bout de matter—Massa Will say noffin’ at all ain’t de matter wid him— but den what make him go about looking dis here way, wid he head down and he soldiers up, and as white as a gose?. And den he keep a syphon all de time ”’— “ Keeps a what, Jupiter? ” “ Keeps a syphon wid de figgurs on de slate—de queerest figgurs I ebber did see, Ise gittin to be skeered, I tell you. Hab for to keep mighty tight eye pon him noovers.1 ‘Todder day he gib me slip fore de sun up, and was gone de whole ob de blessed day. I had a big stick ready cut for to gib him d——d good beating? when he did come—but Ise sich a fool dat I hadn’t de heart arter all—he look so berry poorly.” 1 Noovers: maneuvers. 2 Good beating. Though in the best, Southern families certain of the slaves were frequently treated with affectionate familiarity, it is extremely doubtful that any negro body-servant ever took it upon himself to thrash the master he loved, however much a guardian of that master he felt himself to be, SIPS a eS. ra FITS E ESTES EE eB TIO E cigs treseress, oS SSS SSS 7 1K pans if eee f TEU ERR SaS HERRERA USTED AaMatb casa ce aaneerpneoneeMneRET TGHRSA URE EME Dither THE GOLD-BUG “Eh?—what? Ah yes!—upon the whole, I think you had better not be too severe with the poor fellow—don’t flog him, Jupiter, he can’t very well stand it—but can you form no idea of what has occasioned this illness, or rather this change of conduct? Has anything unpleasant happened since I saw you?” “No, massa, dey ain’t bin noffin’ onpleasant since den— *twas ’fore den I’m feared—’twas de berry day you was dare.” “How? what do you mean?” “Why, massa, I mean de bug—dare now.” p Whe wnat?” “De bug—I’m berry sartain dat Massa Will bin bit some- where ’bout de head by dat goole-bug.” wANnid what cause. ave) you, Jupiter; for such a sup- position?” “ Claws enuff, massa, and mouff too. I nebber did see sich a d d bug—he kick and he bite ebery ting what cum near him. Massa Will cotch him fuss, but had for to let him go ’xin mighty quick, I tell you—den was de time he must ha’ got de bite. I didn’t like de look ob de bug mouff, myself, no- how, so I wouldn’t take hold ob him wid my finger, but I cotch him wid a piece ob paper dat I found. I wrap him up in de paper and stuff pieces of it in he mouff—dat was de way.” “And you think, then, that your master was really bitten by the beetle, and that the bite made him sick?” “T don’t t’ink noffin’ bout it—I nose it. What make him dream ’bout de goole so much, if ’t ain’t cause he bit by de goole- bug? Ise heerd bout dem goole-bugs "fore dis.” “But how do you know he dreams about gold?” “How I know? why, ’cause he talk about it in he sleep— dat’s how I nose.” “Well, Jup, perhaps you are right; but to what fortunate Sana SS URINE Sapnncmncarate aemeemmnesiacmedise eee ee % ~ ws ra es pigtelgtetsietetrtits tts Seen aE ET Te rege rere zs ETrPaTabe? Syagis s eresssStesers SaeseToeT TSH ESS Sh 4 zr ETT EEEns etree, Tea uenerere THE GOLD-BUG circumstances am I to attribute the honor of a visit from you to-day?” “What de matter, massa?” “ Did you bring any message from Mr. Legrand?” “No, massa, I bring dis here ’pissel”’; and here Jupiter handed me a note, which ran thus :— My DEAR Why have I not seen you for so long a time? I hope you have not been so foolish as to take offense at any little brusquerie! of mine; but no, that is improbable. Since I saw you I have had great cause for anxiety. I have some- thing to tell you, yet scarcely know how to tell it, or whether I should tell it at all. I have not been quite well for some days past, and poor old Jup annoys me, almost beyond endurance, by his well-meant attentions. Would you believe it?—he had prepared a huge stick, the other day, with which to chastise me for giving him the slip, and spending the day, solus, among the hills on the mainland. I verily believe that my ill looks alone saved me a flogging. I have made no addition to my cabinet since we met. If you can, in any way, make it convenient, come over with Jupiter. Do come. I wish to see you to-night, upon business of importance. I assure you that it is of the highest importance. Ever yours, WILi1AmM LEGRAND. There was something in the tone of this note which gave me great uneasiness. Its whole style differed materially from that of Legrand. What could he be dreaming of? What new crotchet possessed his excitable brain? What “ business of the highest importance ” could he possibly have to transact? Jupi- ter’s account of him boded no good. I dreaded lest the con- tinued pressure of misfortune had, at length, fairly unsettled the reason of my friend. Without a moment’s hesitation, there- fore, I prepared to accompany the negro. Upon reaching the wharf, I noticed a scythe and three 1 Brusquerie: brusqueness. Se FEF PSST ETT eNPRRE EFES TIPE BSE SEIES TIES SSE SPL SSO TEE OTR TN a ee ag Danae See a ae ee i232 = ‘ S53 FEET ES aT AT ES PTETHE GOLD-BUG spades, all apparently new, lying in the bottom of the boat in which we were to embark. “ What is the meaning of all this, Jup?” I inquired. “Him syfe, massa, and spade.” “Very true; but what are they doing here?” “Him de syfe and de spade what Massa Will ’sis’ ‘pon my buying for him in de town, and de debbil’s own lot of money I had to gib for ’em.” “But what, in the name of all that is mysterious, is your “Massa Will’ going to do with scythes and spades?” “Dat’s more dan J know, and debbil take me if I don’t b’lieve ’tis more dan he know, too. But it’s all cum ob de bug.” Finding that no satisfaction was to be obtained of Jupiter, whose whole intellect seemed to be absorbed by “ de bug,” I now stepped into the boat and made sail. With a fair and strong breeze we soon ran into the little cove to the northward of Fort Moultrie, and a walk of some two miles brought us to the hut. It was about three in the afternoon when we arrived. Legrand had been awaiting us in eager expectation. He grasped my hand with a nervous empressement* which alarmed me and strengthened the suspicions already entertained. His countenance was pale even to ghastliness, and his deep-set eyes glared with unnatural luster. After some inquiries respecting his health, I asked him, not knowing what better to say, if he had yet obtained the scarabeus from Lieutenant G : “Oh, yes,” he replied, coloring violently, “I got it from him the next morning. Nothing should tempt me to part with that scarabeus. Do you know that Jupiter is quite right about it!” “In what way?” I asked, with a sad foreboding at heart. “In supposing it to be a bug of real gold’ He said this with an air of profound seriousness, and I felt inexpressibly shocked. 1 Empressement: great cordiality. = r rrr ars Ps eihibass sisavaes tabaes = a staat on a cose tenes se tas sass faais bests tere tes tene eae HEE eorea en se sree ee ae eee ea ee Seite weLbuwes ssarrcbes E5tSg See See SEES ee ee eee rasapesesecteaseeeees Asa, CLONLID) 110 “This bug is to make my fortune,” he continued, with a triumphant smile, “to reinstate me in my family possessions. Is it any wonder, then, that I prize it? Since Fortune has thought fit to bestow it upon me, I have only to use it properly and I shall arrive at the gold of which it is the index. Jupiter, bring me that scarabeus!” “What! de bug, massa? I’d rudder not go fer trubble dat bug—you mus’ git him for your own self.” Hereupon Le- grand arose, with a grave and stately air, and brought me the beetle from a glass case in which it was enclosed. It was a beautiful scarabeus, and, at that time, unknown to naturalists —of course a great prize in a scientific point of view. There were two round black spots near one extremity of the back, and a long one near the other. The scales were exceedingly hard and glossy, with all the appearance of burnished gold. The weight of the insect was very remarkable, and, taking all things into consideration, I could hardly blame Jupiter for his opinion respecting it; but what to make of Legrand’s agreement with that opinion, I could not, for the life of me, tell. “T sent for you,” said he, in a grandiloquent? tone, when I had completed my examination of the beetle, “I sent for you, that I might have your counsel and assistance in furthering the views of Fate and of the bug ’— “My dear Legrand,” I cried, interrupting him, “you are certainly unwell, and had better use some little precautions. You shall go to bed, and I will remain with you a few days, until you get over this. You are feverish and ”— “ Feel my pulse,” said he. I felt it, and, to say the truth, found not the slightest indica- tion of fever. “But you may be ill and yet have no fever. Allow me this 1 Grandiloquent: lofty. Wists SSIs ES rursens parades RT SES EE epee areos rare 2053720555502 Shine be vertnr aaa near ee eran mee Seen nea oat eee ere eras iaieeriaate ystats ince so UT AEAGAASHSHETEASHRRR TG aaat ete eeaesasayenguaaiadieaaaesaacs aren ie BenetUSEHERSSES EDS i a PSRELARERELEIERSASUS ESE HOOEH TASSEdEIMEMES Eat NBeaut} i" ay) PSN i erat SEIS SIBISGS TE HED GOMDs SUG once to prescribe for you. In the first place, go to bed. In the next “You are mistaken,” he interposed; “Iam as well as I can expect to be under the excitement which I suffer. If you really wish me well, you will relieve this excitement.” “And how is this to be done?” “Very easily. Jupiter and myself* are going upon an ex- pedition into the hills, upon the mainland, and, in this expedi- tion, we shall need the aid of some person in whom we can confide. You are the only one we can trust. Whether we succeed or fail, the excitement which you now perceive in me will be equally allayed.” “T am anxious to oblige you in any way,” I replied; “ but do you mean to say that this infernal beetle has any connection with your expedition into the hills?” mole lease? “Then, Legrand, I can become a party to no such absurd proceeding.” “T am sorry—very sorry—for we shall have to try it by our- selves.” “Try it by yourselves! The man is surely mad!—but stay! —how long do you propose to be absent?” “Probably all night. We shall start immediately, and be back, at all events, by sunrise.” “And will you promise me upon your honor, that when this freak of yours is over, and the bug business (good God!) settled to your satisfaction, you will then return home and fol- low my advice implicitly, as that of your physician? ” “Ves; I promise; and now let us be off, for we have no time to lose.” With a heavy heart I accompanied my friend. We started 1 Myself. What pronoun might better have been used here? pee as tag thee estas ite Doceed to Solara serees felale tit Trait tt at pans eg tere taal : he ORE - . . aia BE See tere cee cens shee 3 pees £30852 so teek os stern rises Pie sh Sa ;THE GOLD-BUG about four o’clock,—Legrand, Jupiter, the dog, and myself. Jupiter had with him the scythe and spades, the whole of which he insisted upon carrying, more through fear, it seemed to me, of trusting either of the implements within reach of his master, than from any excess of industry or complaisance. His de- meanor was dogged in the extreme, and “ dat d d bug” were the sole words which escaped his lips during the journey. For my own part, I had charge of a couple of dark lanterns, while Legrand contented himself with the scarabeus, which he carried attached to the end of a bit of whip-cord, twirling it to and fro, with the air of a conjurer, as he went. When I ob- served this last plain evidence of my friend’s aberration of mind, I could scarcely refrain from tears. I thought it best, however, to humor his fancy, at least for the present, or until I could adopt some more energetic measures with a chance of success. In the meantime I endeavored, but all in vain, to sound him in regard to the object of the expedition. Having succeeded in inducing me to accompany him, he seemed un- willing to hold conversation upon any topic of minor impor- tance, and to all my questions vouchsafed no other reply than “We shall see!” We crossed the creek at the head of the island by means of a skiff, and, ascending the high grounds on the shore of the mainland, proceeded in a northwesterly direction, through a tract of country excessively wild and desolate, where no trace of a human footstep was to be seen. Legrand led the way with decision; pausing only for an instant, here and there, to con- sult what appeared to be certain landmarks of his own contri- vance upon a former occasion. In this manner we journeyed for about two hours, and the sun was just setting when we entered a region infinitely more dreary than any yet seen. It was a species of table-land, near 1 Myself. See note on p. 14. SEPESES EGET Tete ged wade Bata Da tae ras psaee toes tet TE a= Re onan Erg RRR RE a sistent ait enc THREE TRE HERRERA ERT RRR Hag?TSHEIREUISEDESGaHaHaeS ESN THUS SHeRESESRUSERUERT TELL ASE USREREERERGDEEE i is jf Sysesglyracg bess mebenee snes seeetitaneesad ny teas hoes asteneise eesti ee ssh EaRTie eesiaes os basse eeessansreeseeraee sees THE GOLD-BUG the summit of an almost inaccessible hill, densely wooded from base to pinnacle and interspersed with huge crags that ap- peared to lie loosely upon the soil, and in many cases were prevented from precipitating themselves into the valleys below, merely by the support of the trees against which they reclined. Deep ravines, in various directions, gave an air of still sterner solemnity to the scene. The natural platform to which we had clambered was thickly overgrown with brambles, through which we soon discovered that it would have been impossible to force our way but for the scythe; and Jupiter, by direction of his master, proceeded to clear for us a path to the foot of an enormously tall tulip-tree, which stood, with some eight or ten oaks, upon the level, and far surpassed them all, and all other trees which I had then ever seen, in the beauty of its foliage and form, in the wide spread of its branches, and in the general majesty of its ap- pearance, When we reached this tree, Legrand turned to Jupiter, and asked him if he thought he could climb it, The old man seemed a little staggered by the question, and for some moments made no reply. At length he approached the huge trunk, walked slowly around it, and examined it with minute attention. When he had completed his scrutiny, he merely said :— “ Yes, massa, Jup climb any tree he ebber see in he life.” ~ Then up with you as soon as possible, for it will soon be too dark to see what we are about.” “ How far mus’ go up, massa?” inquired Jupiter. “Get up the main trunk first, and then I will tell you which way to go—and here—stop! take this beetle with you.” De bug, Massa Will! de goole-bug!” cried the negro, drawing back in dismay, “ what for mus’ tote? de bug way up de tree ?>—d mit lado ls 1 Tote: carry. A word much used by the darkies and uneducated white peo- ple of the South,SS SSeS a esses rere ee seas Sree eeeeeee wes ease ere eee Sus iaes sSsseuagss FStetete sat eapeecier staeetar erases tees eee a eseee secs Se rees eres ears e THE GOLD-BUG 17 “If you are afraid, Jup, a great big negro like you, to take hold of a harmiless little dead beetle, why, you can carry it up by this string; but if you do not take it up with you in some way, I shall be under the necessity of breaking your head with this shovel.” “ What de matter now, massa?” said Jup, evidently shamed into compliance ; “ always want fur to raise fuss wid old nigger. Was only funnin’ anyhow. Me feered de bug! what I keer for de bug?” Here he took cautiously hold of the extreme end of the string, and, maintaining the insect as far from his person as circumstances would permit, prepared to ascend the tree. In youth the tulip-tree, or Liriodendron tulipifera, the most magnificent of American foresters, has a trunk peculiarly smooth, and often rises to a great height without lateral branches; but, in its riper age, the bark becomes gnarled and uneven, while many short limbs make their appearance on the stem. Thus the difficulty of ascension, in the present case, lay more in semblance than in reality. Embracing the huge cylin- der as closely as possible with his arms and knees, seizing with his hands some projections, and resting his naked toes upon others, Jupiter, after one or two narrow escapes from falling, at length wriggled himself into the first great fork, and seemed to consider the whole business as virtually accomplished. The risk of the achievement was, in fact, now over, although the climber was some sixty or seventy feet from the ground. “Which way mus’ go now, Massa Will?” he asked. “ Keep up the largest branch—the one on this side,” said Le- grand. The negro obeyed him promptly, and apparently with but little trouble ; ascending higher and higher, until no glimpse of his squat figure could be obtained through the dense foliage which enveloped it. Presently his voice was heard in a sort of halloo. “How much fudder is got for go?” es te STE ETT: SES tye epee rene arsristrs Se SS SS eSSL ST ep SS arated plat at tag See Eee aaa Sa Ea eae aah gta ATE a tg ttieatatipstat tan seat tes SHERSEAGADESSUE USHER SG EASESM a uoean AUR Uaateantege | ae at GLAGEIN GIR RN CREALMAIOR URUEE RAIL ERT zsDat GOLD-BUG “ How high up are you?” asked Legrand. “ Ebber so fur,” replied the negro; “can see de sky fru de top on de tec. “ Never mind the sky, but attend to what I say. Look down the trunk and count the limbs below you on this side. How many limbs have you passed?” “One, two, three, four, fibe—I done pass fibe big limb, massa, pon dis side.” “Then go one limb higher.” In a few minutes the voice was heard again, announcing that the seventh limb was attained. “Now, Jup,” cried Legrand, evidently much excited, “I want you to work your way out upon that limb as far as you can. If you see anything strange, let me know.” By this time what little doubt I might have entertained of my poor friend’s insanity was put finally at rest. I had no al- ternative but to conclude him stricken with lunacy, and I be- came seriously anxious about getting him home. While I was pondering upon what was best to be done, Jupiter’s voice was again heard. “ Mos’ feered for to ventur’ ’pon dis limb berry far—'t is dead limb putty much all de way.” “Did you say it was a dead limb, Jupiter?”’ cried Legrand in a qluiavering voice. “Ves, massa, him dead as de door-nail—done up for sartain “done Geparted dis here lite.” “What in the name of heaven shall I do?” asked Legrand, seemingly in the greatest distress. “Do!” said I, glad of an opportunity to interpose a word, “why, come home and go to bed. Come now!—that’s a fine fellow. It’s getting late, and, besides, you remember your promise.”SS SSESSSTSS SESS eee ee eee ease eeeeteeets Tit COM Ree “ Jupiter,” cried he, without heeding me in the least, “do you hear me?” “ Yes, Massa Will, hear you ebber so plain.” “Try the wood well, then, with your knife, and see if you think it very rotten.” “Him rotten, massa, sure nuff,” replied the negro, in a few moments, “but not so berry rotten as mought be. Mought ven- tur’ out leetle way ’pon de limb by myself, dat’s true.” “ By yourself! What do you mean?” ~ Why, I mean de bug. Tis berry hebby bug. S’pose I drop him down fust, and den de limb won’t break wid just de weight of one nigger.” “ You infernal scoundrel! ” cried Legrand, apparently much relieved, “ what do you mean by telling me such nonsense as that? As sure as you drop that beetle, I’ll break your neck. Look here, Jupiter, do you hear me?” “ Yes, massa, needn’t hollo at poor nigger dat style.” “Well! now listen !—if you will venture out on the limb as far as you think safe, and not let go the beetle, I’ll make you a present of a silver dollar as soon as you get down.” “I’m gwine, Massa Will—deed I is,” replied the negro, very promptly—‘mos’ out to de eend now.” “ Out to the end!” here fairly screamed Legrand; “ do you say you are out to the end of that limb? ” “Soon be to de eend, massa,—o-o0-0-0-oh! Lor-gol-a-marcy ! what is dis here ’pon de tree? ” “Well,” cried Legrand, highly delighted, ‘‘ what is it?” “Why, ’tain’t noffin’ but a skull—somebody bin lef’ him head up de tree, and de crows done gobble ebery bit ob de meat off.” “A skull, you say! Very well; how is it fastened to the limb? What holds it on?” “ Shure nuff, massa; mus’ look. Why dis berry curous sar- aan = SF SRE ETS oo SEE RT ee oe = ~ srissesresiai: Sas SoS Sa Soe Serer ea ee ese een nee eens Soe eee eae BAPE Ped tas dagae apenas bree Friste tate Te eete Tae Ean RRUUFR EU FSRGHLNGRRNTT REACHES RRURASTRR EAE CETVEP RT tei HSA RA Et ARERR HRTGUERRA HgSEHA TOES HEVES ESE HGS SS Gags Meigs ANE SESeeH SOUS ARTA STGF HERES CHEESES SEES EESEE NT arte set) ii R SEBGHRSEDOS DEAyoOMRGRESESPONROSMESHD HER DESARSGTRSHauSSEEEHESR Lasse see Oe are nace mreeryt ers ass tt ates nels is boty ete ae itte as Bete Renae cece ar taev rari rie t eee atar stew rie tee eee [et setesh shee aes sy: Sis tegt tatescc cl lacutes tog cpsuascacs ire Tacwraseiersieaisepr ener serie jagia tisrmariritetere taeststs? saee7psaaat THE GOLD-BUG cumstance, ’_pon my word—dare’s a great big nail in de skull, what fastens ob it on to de tree.” “Well now, Jupiter, do exactly as I tell you—do you hear?” @ ies) massa. “Pay attention, then!—find the left eye of the skull.” “Hum! hoo! dat’s good! why, dare ain’t no eye lef’ at all.” “Curse your stupidity! do you know your right hand from vOut leit: “Yes, I nose dat—nose all bout dat—’t is my lef’ hand what I chops de wood wid.” “To be sure! you are left-handed; and your left eye is on the same side as your left hand. Now, I suppose you can find the left eye of the skull, or the place where the left eye has been. Have you found it?” Here was a long pause. At length the negro asked: “Ts de lef’ eye ob de skull ‘pon de same side as de lef’ hand of de skull, too?—’cause the skull ain’t got not a bit ob a hand at all—nebber mind! I got de lef’ eye now—here de lef’ eye! what mus’ do wid it?” “eet the beetle drop through it, as far as the string will reach, but be careful and not let go your hold of the string.” “All dat done, Massa Will; mighty easy ting for to put de bug fru de hole; look out for him dar below!” During this colloquy no portion of Jupiter’s person could be seen ; but the beetle, which he had suffered to descend, was now visible at the end of the string, and glistened, like a globe of burnished gold, in the last rays of the setting sun, some of which still faintly illumined the eminence upon which we stood. The scarabeus hung quite clear of any branches, and, if al- lowed to fall, would have fallen at our feet. Legrand imme- diately took the scythe, and cleared with it a circular space, three or four yards in diameter, just beneath the insect, and, ee vee ALEPPO Peis 35 SES EESTI eae OS Ea SORES ETE TET semas re Fs es. =eTHE GOLD-BUG 21 having accomplished this, ordered Jupiter to let go the string and come down from the tree. Driving a peg, with great nicety, into the ground, at the pre- cise spot where the beetle fell, my friend now produced from his pocket a tape-measure. Fastening one end of this at that point of the trunk of the tree which was nearest the peg, he unrolled it till it reached the peg, and thence farther unrolled it, in the direction already established by the two points of the tree and the peg, for the distance of fifty feet—Jupiter clearing away the brambles with the scythe. At the spot thus attained a second peg was driven, and about this, as a center, a rude circle, about four feet in diameter, described. Taking now a spade himself, and giving one to Jupiter and one to me, Le- grand begged us to set about digging as quickly as possible. To speak the truth, I had no especial relish for such amuse- ment at any time, and, at that particular moment, would most willingly have declined it; for the night was coming on, and I felt much fatigued with the exercise already taken; but I saw no mode of escape, and was fearful of disturbing my poor friend’s equanimity by a refusal. Could I have depended, in- deed, upon Jupiter’s aid, I would? have had no hesitation in at- tempting to get the lunatic home by force; but I was too well assured of the old negro’s disposition, to hope that he would assist me, under any circumstances, in a personal contest with his master. I made no doubt that the latter had been infected with some of the innumerable Southern superstitions about money buried, and that his fantasy had received confirmation by the finding of the scarabeus, or, perhaps, by Jupiter’s ob- stinacy in maintaining it to be “a bug of real gold.” A mind disposed to lunacy would readily be led away by such sugges- tions,—especially if chiming in with favorite preconceived ideas,—and then I called to mind the poor fellow’s speech about 1 Would. Is would correct here? Ser ieee tiie 2er ce DiS ts tapas peut sree ti tete cate tetas seta sesee Tea en TEES ar RO VRTURAGHEENTPRETTIEST USESTBAaESIBPSESSAvaHE TTS A TAN ENE MU ETE (ph =sweme, Apew eater rata Teyy Terres ae sea te7:< a5 353 0eb lei ke ws peices es OR ieSh ete rarene ress THE GOLD-BUG the beetle’s being “ the index of his fortune.” Upon the whole, I was sadly vexed and puzzled, but, at length, I concluded to make a virtue of necessity,—to dig with a good will, and thus the sooner to convince the visionary, by ocular demonstration, of the fallacy of the opinions he entertained. The lanterns having been lit, we all fell to work with a zeal worthy a more rational cause; and, as the glare fell upon our persons and implements, I could not help thinking how pictur- esque a group we composed, and how strange and suspicious our labors must have appeared to any interloper who, by chance, might have stumbled upon our whereabouts. We dug very steadily for two hours. Little was said; and our chief embarrassment lay in the yelpings of the dog, who took exceeding interest in our proceedings. He at length be- came so obstreperous, that we grew fearful of his giving the alarm to some stragglers in the vicinity,—or, rather, this was the apprehension of Legrand; for myself, I should have re- joiced at any interruption which might have enabled me to get the wanderer home. The noise was, at length, very effectually silenced by Jupiter, who, getting out of the hole with a dogged air of deliberation, tied the brute’s mouth up with one of his suspenders, and then returned, with a grave chuckle, to his task. When the time mentioned had expired, we had reached a depth of five feet, and yet no signs of any treasure became manifest. A general pause ensued, and I began to hope that the farce was at an end. Legrand, however, although evi- dently much disconcerted, wiped his brow thoughtfully and recommenced. We had excavated the entire circle of four feet diameter, and now we slightly enlarged the limit, and went to the farther depth of two feet. Still nothing appeared. The gold-seeker, whom I sincerely pitied, at length clambered from the pit, with the bitterest disappointment imprinted upon every PRSHEE ESSE EESme) toe COLD-BuUG feature, and proceeded, slowly and reluctantly, to put on his coat, which he had thrown off at the beginning of his labor. In the meantime I made no remark. Jupiter, at a signal from his master, began to gather up his tools. This done, and the dog having been unmuzzled, we turned in profound silence to- wards home. We had taken, perhaps, a dozen steps in this direction, when, with a loud oath, Legrand strode up to Jupiter, and seized him by the collar. The astonished negro opened his eyes and mouth to the fullest extent, let fall the spades, and fell upon his knees.* “Vou scoundrel,” said Legrand, hissing out the syllables from between his clenched teeth, “ you infernal black villain! speak, I tell you! answer me this instant, without prevarication ! which,—which is your left eye?” “Oh, my golly, Massa Will! ain’t dis here my lef’ eye for sartain?” roared the terrified Jupiter, placing his hand upon his right organ of vision, and holding it there with a desperate pertinacity, as if in immediate dread of his master’s attempt at a gouge. “T thought so! I knew it! hurrah!” vociferated Legrand, let- ting the negro go, and executing a series of curvets and cara- coles,? much to the astonishment of his valet, who, arising from his knees, looked mutely from his master to myself, and then from myself to his master. “ Come! we must go back,” said the latter; “the game’s not up yet;” and he again led the way to the tulip-tree. “ Tupiter,” said he, when he reached its foot, “ come here! was the skull nailed to the limb with the face outwards, or with the face to the limb?” 1 Fell upon his knees. Jupiter’s terror at this display of temper seems to us much more natural than his disposition to dictate to, contradict, and discipline his master. 29 Executing ... curvets and caracoles. That is, prancing about in his excitement. Belin cetags csesirers mets tetsten gen Sirk Das tai neree pened tree fitets tate tyaerea aiptaseses aaa se sesisTISsT ELIT zara Su ETRS LLAGREA EG tf ERAGE SEHU aE IERSENGaTS TSHR ODER GGBE STR fSREUESPHDGERESEASESPEPSHeSRGHIGHOE fF hee ye . eeirest A se saa aM " . " R epistetose ait Tere sate teheiy . Sthese sa bad Braseegaegogetes | oe bek etree ioe | es pot btsaadssitQeseseieasast Gti v0s000 SEsHseQPOseSSHSENSCSESEOAOLSDSSSSSHIMGSUSaHOGSSOSORESEREGOS SHANG eGovEneSodSMeSOREESNIERIE Sgeerssers SSresbtet wantttes? ete. jiantsasbeasasbessseasseeeeaees 8 SEE erettawteers AEet 3s spteesrasy treats or Pu bergen mete speiianc ty ent ase beers inns tang Riders easiert steeeas pee aere eee eee EE sm =e = a SS Saeeere 24 thie COLD BUG “ De face was out, massa, so dat de crows could get at de eyes good, widout any trouble.” ~ Well, then, was it this eye or that through which you dropped the beetle? ”—here Legrand touched each of Jupiter’s eyes. “Twas dis eye, massa—de lef’ eye—Jis as you tell me,” and here it was his right eye that the negro indicated. * That will do—we must try it again.” Flere 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 de- meanor of Legrand—some air of forethought, or of delibera- tion, 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 un- easiness in the first instance had been, evidently, but the result of playfulness or caprice, but he now assumed a bitter and SS ES SS ET TEE ABA BE ERE aes soe) pogten saas Sila SDs to PneDED Ss PRISERPRELISERS ITI ©StR Ta OY ERP. Eabe RST Teeae Tet eee ‘a Tastee Toearerssgeeeae peasant eu Fares case ritestee ra SEE IETS er as aa 5 . eee sr rie Sineearses) ‘ eee ae arenas ndehen ste t wae te tone eee eh tabee sis aemeas istitas = sao SEEDS TRE A Tho has 5 x erTHE GOLD2B WG 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 skele- tons, intermingled with several buttons of metal, and what ap- peared to be the dust of decayed woolen. 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 re- strained, but the countenance of his master wore an air of ex- treme 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 ina large ring of iron that lay half buried in the loose earth. We now worked in earnest, and never did I pass ten minutes of more intense excitement. During this interval we had fairly unearthed an oblong chest of wood which, from its perfect preservation and wonderful hardness, had plainly been sub- jected to some mineralizing process,—perhaps that of the bi- chloride of mercury. This box was three feet and a half long, three feet broad, and two and a half feet deep. It was firmly secured by bands of wrought iron, riveted, and forming a kind of trellis-work over the whole. On each side of the chest, near the top, were three rings of iron—six in all—by means of which a firm hold could be obtained by six persons. Our ut- most united endeavors served only to disturb the coffer very slightly in its bed. We at once saw the impossibility of remov- ing so great a weight. Luckily, the sole fastenings of the lid consisted of two sliding bolts. These we drew back—trembling and panting with anxiety. In an instant, a treasure of incalcu- lable value lay gleaming before us. As the rays of the lanterns fell within the pit, there flashed upwards a glow and glare, a ears a 2 eR ee eas a Pe ae Sasser beads = : poe bbs Cin sense aah Sededed baae sare hen tereasar abeaes tres bristetatetiteete mtniestaisaat inane ieee 3 a SS S RR a Iga SHRRRRESSES HTS ATR aeeatact ERRAND net iim re TTRHSSHHREREEUEHRIESPDEEOSBRBDEEOEDSRHED SS LSEEBESEDSESOPENESDRDNSGGERREOE THASAAEAREDOU ALE suGHAMESESERALATOQeaduIN EALESEOUGT TE ESHEDAPRaTATISACHaESESHaytdEd Sotraatsthent PPP rpeeepy eTsessese setae tree TEE eee seareteeseravearettts ISHSESGISOESOSEaERERGuREN SG DEGGGESRUGGSESSONSGaMESDGQRSESOSGMESTEONGIUGSENTGEESEOESSG ESREREED Hata RISEN NG Wallis, (GOLID AIG, from a confused heap of gold and of jewels, that absolutely dazzled our eyes. | I shall not pretend to describe the feelings with which I gazed. Amazement was, of course, predominant. Legrand appeared exhausted with excitement, and spoke very few words. Jupiter’s countenance wore, for some minutes, as deadly a pallor as it is possible, in the nature of things, for any negro’s visage to assume. He seemed stupefied—thunder- stricken. Presently he fell upon his knees in the pit, and, bury- ing his naked arms up to the elbows in gold, let them there re- main, as if enjoying the luxury of a bath. At length, with a deep sigh, he exclaimed, as if in a soliloquy :— “And dis all cum ob de goole-bug! de putty goole-bug! de poor little goole-bug, what I ’boosed in dat sabage kind ob style! Ain’t you ’shamed ob yourself, nigger?—answer me daily It became necessary, at last, that I should arouse both master and valet to the expediency of removing the treasure. It was growing late, and it behooved us to make exertion, that we might get everything housed before daylight. It was difficult to say what should be done, and much time was spent in delib- eration—so confused were the ideas of all. We, finally, light- ened the box by removing two thirds of its contents, when we were enabled, with some trouble, to raise it from the hole. The articles taken out were deposited among the brambles, and the dog left to guard them, with strict orders from Jupiter neither, upon any pretense, to stir from the spot, nor to open his mouth until our return. We then hurriedly made for home with the chest, reaching the hut in safety, but after excessive toil, at one o’clock in the morning. Worn out as we were, it was not in human nature to do more just now. We rested until two, and had supper, starting for the hills immediately afterwards, armed with three stout sacks, which, by good luck, were upon rt SES TERY Sis esa rewe ws 74khs bats ba esas Tee SSS ts = es +7 iF apenas PE Taee. pe UCe Fs ae wari eerste tapes sts t sPae 3 oss 5 3s 3) bea 5 ais eee Shs eee se oa ores eee ES shoe cect he kee e es coer ee oes ee ss tater reTHE GOLD-BUG 27 the premises. A little before four we arrived at the pit, divided the remainder of the booty as equally as might be among us, and, leaving the holes unfilled, again set out for the hut, at which, for the second time, we deposited our golden burdens, just as the first streaks of the dawn gleamed from over the treetops in the east. We were now thoroughly broken down; but the intense ex- citement of the time denied us repose. After an unquiet slum- ber of some three or four hours’ duration, we arose, as if by preconcert, to make examination of our treasure. The chest had been full to the brim, and we spent the whole day, and the greater part of the next night, in a scrutiny of its contents. There had been nothing like order or arrangement. Everything had been heaped in promiscuously. Having as- sorted all with care, we found ourselves possessed of even vaster wealth than we had at first supposed. In coin there was rather more than four hundred and fifty thousand dollars— estimating the value of the pieces, as accurately as we could, by the tables of the period. There was not a particle of silver. All was gold of antique date and of great variety,—French, Spanish, and German money, with a few English guineas,? and some counters,” of which we had never seen specimens before. There were several very large and heavy coins, so worn that we could make nothing of their inscriptions. There was no American money.® The value of the jewels we found more difficulty in estimating. There were diamonds—some of them exceedingly large and fine—a hundred and ten in all, and not one of them small; eighteen rubies of remarkable brilliancy ; three hundred and ten emeralds, all very beautiful ; and twenty- one sapphires, with an opal. These stones had all been broken 1 Guineas: old English coins worth about five dollars apiece. 2 Counters: pieces of money; small coin. 3 There was no American money. This fact might be taken as an indication that the treasure had been buried before the days of American money. S355 SIS peter SSL SSS Se aes a eer cee tee tn eae aaa ena ae re28 THE GOLD-BUG from their settings and thrown loose into the chest. The settings themselves, which we picked out from among the other gold, appeared to have been beaten up with hammers, as if to prevent | identification, Besides all this, there was a vast quantity of | solid gold ornaments,—nearly two hundred massive finger and ) ear rings; rich chains—thirty of these, if I remember; eighty- ~ three very large and heavy crucifixes; five gold censers of great | value; a prodigious golden punch-bowl, ornamented with richly-chased vine-leaves and Bacchanalian figures‘; with two sword-handles exquisitely embossed, and many other smaller articles which I cannot recollect. The weight of these valu- ables exceeded three hundred and fifty pounds avoirdupois; and in this estimate I have not included one hundred and ninety- seven superb gold watches, three of the number being worth each five hundred dollars, if one. Many of them were very old, and as time-keepers valueless, the works having suffered, more or less, from corrosion; but all were richly jeweled and in cases of great worth. We estimated the entire contents of the chest, that night, at a million and a half of dollars; and, upon the subsequent disposal of the trinkets and jewels (a few being retained for our own use), it was found that we had greatly undervalued the treasure. When, at length, we had concluded our examination, and the intense excitement of the time had in some measure subsided, Legrand, who saw that I was dying with impatience for a solu- tion of this most extraordinary riddle, entered into a full detail | of all the circumstances connected with it. | ~ You remember,” said he, “the night when I handed you the rough sketch I had made of the scarabeus. You recollect, also, that I became quite vexed at you for insisting that my drawing resembled a death’s-head. When you first made this HPEEUEARARAURSESHGSEAMAsU TEAL 1 Bacchanalian figures: figures of persons dancing and drinking as in the reve'- held in honor of Bacchus, the god of wine. SSS ERPS RESIST TESpovrys tate es ooteass Seat seeeeriees tas renee tera iets Sreempee a THe GOLED-BUG assertion I thought you were jesting; but afterwards I called to mind the peculiar spots on the back of the insect, and ad- mitted to myself that your remark had some little foundation in fact. Still, the sneer at my graphic powers irritated me,—for I am-considered a good artist,—and, therefore, when you handed me the scrap of parchment, I was about to crumple it up and throw it angrily into the fire.” “The scrap of paper, you mean,” said I. “No; it had much of the appearance of paper, and at first I supposed it to be such, but when I came to draw upon it, I discovered it at once to be a piece of very thin parchment. It was quite dirty, you remember. Well, as I was in the very act of crumpling it up, my glance fell upon the sketch at which you had been looking, and you may imagine my astonishment when I perceived, in fact, the figure of a death’s-head just where, it seemed to me, I had made the drawing of the beetle. For a moment I was too much amazed to think with accuracy. I knew that my design was very different in detail from this, although there was a certain similarity in general outline. Presently I took a candle, and seating myself at the other end of the room, proceeded to scrutinize the parchment more closely. Upon turning it over, I saw my own sketch upon the reverse, just as I had made it. My first idea, now, was mere surprise at the really remarkable similarity of outline—at the singular coincidence involved in the fact that, unknown to me, there should have been a skull upon the other side of the parch- ment, immediately beneath my figure of the scarabeus, and that this skull, not only in outline, but in size, should so closely resemble my drawing. I say the singularity of this coincidence absolutely stupefied me for a time. This is the usual effect of such coincidences. The mind struggles to establish a connec- tion—a sequence of cause and effect—and, being unable to do so, stiffers a species of temporary paralysis. But when I re- a ssosEs3 SSSI ESE eryaredepipans sates eos te etras tans thet iete siete era 7 s Fa See eas So aa SO ES ie GI RRR RR i cr nA Se RISE U Hr SAR Lt ER REGS ateunuvast areas HT H Ean arn tiSoe s THE GOLD-BUG covered from this stupor, there dawned upon me gradually a conviction which startled me even far more than the coinci- dence. I began distinctly, positively, to remember that there had been no drawing upon the parchment when I made my sketch of the scarabeus. I became perfectly certain of this; | for I recollected turning up first one side and then the other, in | search of the cleanest spot. Had the skull been then there, of course, I could not have failed to notice it. Here was indeed a mystery which I felt it impossible to explain; but, even at that early moment, there seemed to glimmer, faintly, within the most remote and secret chambers of my intellect, a glowworm- like conception of that truth which last night’s adventure brought to so magnificent a demonstration. I arose at once, and putting the parchment securely away, dismissed all further reflection until I should be alone. “When you had gone, and when Jupiter was fast asleep, I betook myself to a more methodical investigation of the affair. In the first place I considered the manner in which the parch- ment had come into my possession. The spot where we dis- covered the scarabeus was on the coast of the mainland, about a mile eastward of the island, and but a short distance above high-water mark. Upon my taking hold of it, it gave me a sharp bite, which caused me to let it drop. Jupiter, with his accustomed caution, before seizing the insect, which had flown towards him, looked about him for a leaf, or something of that nature, by which to take hold of it. It was at this moment that his eyes and mine also, fell upon the scrap of parchment, which I then supposed to be paper. It was lying half buried in the sand, a corner sticking up. Near the spot where we found it, I observed the remnants of the hull of what appeared to have been a ship’s long boat. The wreck seemed to have been there for a very great while; for the resemblance to boat timbers could scarcely be traced. IHAGSSTHEIEARHUEAAATHTDEESSPSHREEAAODUEESTDAGHOT ONO OROGPRGSSGERPEDESEAE ATUASRDHIEEDPUITEYTHEELE PELTED UEETERET TT AT EU # THEESUEESGSTHTERRRSGgEgEP ESAS$4pphoseuustsesy Mrtae sorte eee SE rea a ar oe eae ee EER BTS TERT MELEE TT LE GOED BEG, 31 “Well, Jupiter picked up the parchment, wrapped the beetle in it, and gave it to me. Soon afterwards we turned to go home, and on the way met Lieutenant G——. I showed him the insect and he begged me to let him take it to the fort. Upon my consenting, he thrust it forthwith into his waistcoat pocket, without the parchment in which it had been wrapped, and which I had continued to hold in my hand during his inspec- tion. Perhaps he dreaded my changing my mind, and thought it best to make sure of the prize at once,—you know how en- thusiastic he is on all subjects connected with Natural History. At the same time, without being conscious of it, I must have deposited the parchment in my own pocket. “You remember that when I went to the table, for the pur- pose of making a sketch of the beetle, I found no paper where it was usually kept. I looked in the drawer, and found none there. I searched my pockets, hoping to find an old letter, when my hand fell upon the parchment. I thus detail the pre- cise mode in which it came into my possession; for the circum- stances impressed me with peculiar force. “No doubt you will think me fanciful, but I had already established a kind of connection. I had put together two links of a great chain. There was a boat lying upon a seacoast, and not far from the boat was a parchment—not a paper—with a skull depicted upon it. You will, of course, ask, ‘ Where is the connection?’ I reply that the skull, or death’s-head, is the well-known emblem of the pirate. The flag of the death’s-head is hoisted in all engagements. “T have said that the scrap was parchment, and not paper. Parchment is durable—almost imperishable. Matters of little moment are rarely consigned to parchment, since, for the mere ordinary purposes of drawing or writing, it is not nearly so well adapted as paper. This reflection suggested some mean- ing—some relevancy—in the death’s-head. I did not fail to = .SetSTrnets: runes SSF Fee one SELES SES PEBIIES SEE eI La ohne Te See ESET A SEE Ba Ba aa Ee Choad eee nae eR eee ee ead GETTEIET Be eveamncity Haare meee i tH SaFSaeiaH i tusesnsdHntdeaitsatteaesaatieuceurepetncgneateesnieseatitaaas aT i a aR sa BRTaySSHEMAD ET HHUEES TOES OQBESRDESGDESUOSGR HG HSUHIOQOGHLSSSRRRLOS HOHE PRHSESEEPNUHE AEEERCLTR Save eHRTTIG HE EEF f SUIESESCHRRSUaGGNSEDNARSREaASTOTDESU RUSE ESEOMOESAESEARE aANSED Baits mesaannet Nest ene ESBeIPe: ye THE GOLD-BUG observe, also, the form of the parchment. Although one of its corners had been, by some accident, destroyed, it could be seen that the original form was oblong. It was just such a slip, in- deed, as might have been chosen for a memorandum—for a record of something to be long remembered and carefully pre- Setaveqee “ But,’ I interposed, “you say that the skull was not upon the parchment when you made the drawing of the beetle. How, then, do you trace any connection between the boat and the skull—since this latter, according to your own admission, must have been designed (God only knows how or by whom) at some period subsequent to your sketching the scarabeus?” “Ah, hereupon turns the whole mystery; although the secret, at this point, I had comparatively little difficulty in solving. My steps were sure, and could afford but a single result, I reasoned, for example, thus: When I drew the scarabeus, there was no skull apparent upon the parchment. When I had completed the drawing I gave it to you, and observed you nar- rowly until you returned it. You, therefore, did not design the skull, and no one else was present to do it. Then it was not done by human agency. And nevertheless it was done. “At this stage of my reflections I endeavored to remember, and did remember, with entire distinctness, every incident which occurred about the period in question. The weather was chilly, (oh, rare and happy accident!) and a fire was blaz- ing upon the hearth. I was heated with exercise, and sat near the table. You, however, had drawn a chair close to the chim- ney. Just as I placed the parchment in your hand, and as you were in the act of inspecting it, Wolf, the Newfoundland, en- tered, and leaped upon your shoulders. With your left hand you caressed him and kept him off, while your right, holding the parchment, was permitted to fall listlessly between your knees, and in close proximity to the fire. At one moment I | ac | i i]Mts COnp- BwG thought the blaze had caught it, and was about to caution you, but before I could speak you had withdrawn it, and were en- gaged in its examination. When I considered all these partic- ulars, I doubted not for a moment that eat had been the agent in bringing to light, upon the parchment, the skull which I saw designed upon it. You are well aware that chemical prepara- tions exist, and have existed time out of mind, by means of which it is possible to write upon either paper or vellum, so that the characters shall become visible only when subjected to the action of fire. Zaffre,* digested in aqua regia, and diluted with four times its weight of water, is sometimes employed; a green tint results. The regulus of cobalt, dissolved in spirit Of miter, gives a red.” ‘hese colors disappear at longer on shorter intervals after the material written upon cools, but again become apparent upon the re-application of heat. “T now scrutinized the death’s-head with care. Its outer edges—the edges of the drawing nearest the edge of the vellum —were far more distinct than the others. It was clear that the action of the caloric? had been imperfect or unequal. I imme- diately kindled a fire, and subjected every portion of the parch- ment to a glowing heat. At first, the only effect was the strengthening of the faint lines in the skull; but, upon persever- ing in the experiment, there became visible, at the corner of the slip diagonally opposite to the spot in which the death’s-head was delineated, the figure of what I at first supposed to be a goat. A closer scrutiny, however, satisfied me that it was intended for a kid.” “tial ta! said I; “to be sure T lave no ment to lane at you,—a million and a half of money is too serious a matter for a i i ERRER RNR Br EM 7 Ry SESE EHH 1 Zaffre: an oxide of cobalt. Aqua regia [royal water]: a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid. Regulus: a term formerly used in chemistry for the metallic mass resulting from the treatment of certain ores. WNiter: a white, semi-transparent crystalline salt; saltpeter. 2 Caloric [pron, ka-lor’ik]; heat. REAL: Se a ee Sgro:TESHRHEEHSEDESEHTB AR HaWMeS Este? THTRESHEAA eabasheaaastdEas 52233! —— his COED SUG mirth,—but. you are not about to establish a third link in your chain: you will not find any especial connection between your pirates and a goat; pirates, you know, have nothing to do with goats; they appertain to the farming interest.” “ But I have said that the figure was not that of a goat.” “Well, a kid, then—pretty much the same thing.” “Pretty much, but not altogether,’ said Legrand. ‘“ You may have heard of one Captain Kidd.t_ I at once looked on the figure of the animal as a kind of punning or hieroglyphical signature. I say signature, because its position upon the vel- lum suggested this idea. The death’s-head at the corner diag- onally opposite had, in the same manner, the air of a stamp, or seal. But I was sorely put out by the absence of all else—of the body to my imagined instrument—of the text for my con- text.” “I presume you expected to find a letter between the stamp and the signature.” “ Something of that kind. The fact is, I felt irresistibly im- pressed with a presentiment of some vast good fortune impend- ing. I can scarcely say why. Perhaps, after all, it was rather a desire than an actual belief; but do you know that Jupiter’s silly words, about the bug being of solid gold, had a remark- able effect upon my fancy? And then the series of accidents and coincidences—these were so very extraordinary. Do you observe how mere an accident it was that these events should have occurred upon the sole day of all the year in which it has been, or may be, sufficiently cool for fire, and that without the fire, or without the intervention of the dog at the precise moment in which he appeared, I should never have become 1 Captain Kidd: a Scotch sea captain of the seventeenth century. Accused of piracy but not convicted, he was hanged for the murder of one of his men. e had accumulated a considerable amount of money and treasure in his various voyages, and, according to legend, buried much more, : ee Se a aie = : Sacer accented eae eae tecs arses seersa4 ia Senge ds 35h oaeurieseie Serer SEE es THE GOLD-BUG aware of the death’s-head, and so never the possessor of the treasure?” “ But proceed—I am all impatience.” “ Well; you have heard, of course, the many stories current —the thousand vague rumors afloat about money buried, some- where upon the Atlantic coast, by Kidd and his associates. These rumors must have had some foundation in fact. And that the rumors have existed so long and so continuously could have resulted, it appeared to me, only from the circumstance of the buried treasure still remaining entombed. Had Kidd concealed his plunder for a time, and afterwards reclaimed it, the rumors would scarcely have reached us in their present un- varying form. You will observe that the stories told are all about money-seekers, not about money-finders. Had the pirate recovered his money, there the affair would have dropped. It seemed to me that some accident—say the loss of a memoran- dum indicating its locality—had deprived him of the means of recovering it, and that this accident had become known to his followers, who otherwise might never have heard that treas- ure had been concealed at all, and who, busying themselves in vain, because unguided, attempts to regain it, had given first birth, and then universal currency, to the reports which are now so common. Have you ever heard of any important treas- ure being unearthed along the coast?” B Never. “But that Kidd’s accumulations were immense is well known. I took it for granted, therefore, that the earth still held them; and you will scarcely be surprised when I tell you that I felt a hope, nearly amounting to certainty, that the parch- ment so strangely found involved a lost record of the place of deposit.” “But how did you proceed? ” “TI held the vellum again to the fire, after increasing the TR TR RR RESERECUARE Sie See agae Recents tree eta gute pian aR UT EME FUR URSTEAEEER eater TSU asians ataterdteeetBurereeryateast ich ter ERED augeHipeainaveseeaee ? r i. SHURE EES DES SASSEHUSOSERAUESEREOUIQGRISSSSHESHESEECHMseaMBeaRSBeESH fee COUD= BUG heat; but nothing appeared. I now thought it possible that the coating of dirt might have something to do with the failure; so I carefully rinsed the parchment by pouring warm water over it, and, having done this, I placed it in a tin pan, with the skull downwards, and put the pan upon a furnace of lighted charcoal. In a few minutes, the pan having become thoroughly heated, I removed the slip, and to my inexpressible joy, found it spotted, in several places, with what appeared to be figures in lines. Again I placed it in the pan, and suffered it to remain another minute. Upon taking it off, the whole was just as you see it 99 now. Here Legrand, having reheated the parchment, submitted it to my inspection. The following characters were rudely traced, in a red tint, between the death’s-head and the goat :— 53441305) )6* 4826) 4t.) 4t) ;806* ;48}8f[60) ) 85 ; ;]8* 5 :2*8483 (88) s*F 24 6(;88* 06% ? 58) (5485) 35*t2 4 (5.49562 (5*—4) 818* ;4069285) 1) 648) 4tt 51 (£9 ;4808r 8 :8E1 548785 54) 485+528806*81 (£0 348 ; (88 34 (£234 348) at s16r: eNO sens “ But,” said I, returning him the slip, “I am as much in the dark as ever. Were all the jewels of Golconda! awaiting me on my solution of this enigma, I am quite sure that I should be un- able to earn them.” “And yet,” said Legrand, “the solution is by no means so difficult as you might be led to imagine from the first hasty in- spection of the characters. These characters, as any one might readily guess, form a cipher, that is to say, they convey a mean- ing; but then, from what is known of Kidd, I could not sup- pose him capable of constructing any of the more abstruse cryptographs. I made up my mind, at once, that this was of a simple species—such, however, as would appear, to the crude intellect of the sailor, absolutely insoluble without the Key. “And you really solved it?” 1 Golconda: a town in India which used to be a famous market for diamonds. £ asses .faseearees pesare oy — = - ==> Sa poesc race meraspesieee net ttre ear a ES fivabie tees abs " peatg Ty sea bs Seb SsoS Ses Se Saad See a = ; uisiesrassneetesa tet hres estas setae ss S SteeSsseues S20R53 Fe Siteeh ss ities Srretet bons trate ger a - StS iste GOED BUG 37 “ Readily"; I have solved others of an abstruseness ten thou- sand times greater. Circumstances, and a certain bias of mind, have led me to take interest in such riddles, and it may well be doubted whether human ingenuity can construct an enigma of the kind which human ingenuity may not, by proper appli- cation, resolve. In fact, having once established connected and legible characters, I scarcely gave a thought to the mere diffi- culty of developing their import. “In the present case—indeed, in all cases of secret writing —the first question regards the language of the cipher; for the principles of solution, so far especially as the more simple ciphers are concerned, depend upon, and are varied by, the genius of the particular idiom. In general, there is no alter- native but experiment (directed by probabilities) of every tongue known to him who attempts the solution, until the true one be attained. But, with the cipher now before us, all diffi- culty was removed by the signature. The pun upon the word “ Kidd” is appreciable in no other language than the English. But for this consideration I should have begun my attempts with the Spanish and French, as the tongues in which a secret of this kind would most naturally have been written by a pirate of the Spanish main.? As it was, I assumed the cryptograph to be English. “You observe there are no divisions between the words. Had there been divisions, the task would have been compara- tively easy. In such case I should have commenced with a collation and analysis of the shorter words; and had a word of a single letter occurred, as is most likely (a or J, for example), I should have considered the solution as assured. But, there being no division, my first step was to ascertain the predomi- 1 Readily. Poe once declared that he felt himself capable of deciphering any cryptograph. See his essay on Cryptography. 2 Spanish main: the northeastern part of South America. Sometimes applied to the Caribbean Sea. Se = : ceeveeweysssss TA 2 rogues sys SESS SEG acres “ ar sivas cosas snes sitete late rtersss sas Ra penne eR NnRSALBIS HTS fS i OLDESS HEHREERSDDISEHTBS PESHASPAEAEHESREESTY SMEAR LANES SuSE STG GT HEE PERRIER i gH i RAH MAGEE ASME ao THE GOLD-BUG nant letters, as well as the least frequent. Counting all, I con- structed a table thus :— Of the character 8 there are 33. ; = 20. 4 . IO. £) e 16. zs 03: 5 i 12. 6 ie fs TI is 8. O c 6. Q2 - 5. “3 . 4. ? o 3 q . 2. — - ifs “Now, in English, the letter which most frequently occurs ise. Afterwards, the succession runs thus:aoidhurstuy cfglmwbkpq-se. E predominates, however, so remark- ably that an individual sentence of any length is rarely seen in which it is not the prevailing character. “ Here, then, we have, in the very beginning, the ground- work for something more than a mere guess. The general use which may be made of the table is obvious—but in this partic- ular cipher we shall only very partially require its aid. As our predominant character is 8, we will commence by assuming it as the e of the natural alphabet. To verify the supposition, let us observe if the 8 be seen often in couples—for e is doubled with great frequency in English—in such words, for example, as “miect,’ “fleet,” speed,’ “seen, “been, “agree, etc, In the present instance we see it doubled no less than five times, al- though the cryptograph is brief. “Let us assume 8, then, ase. Now of all words in the lan- guage, ‘the’ is most usual; let us see therefore, whether thereMEreer tsi srrese eects abet sper ereesetneee sha is ieee eenegersersertetyesse ret ieeeeeseeees THE GOLD-BUG are not repetitions of any three characters, in the same order of collocation, the last of them being 8. If we discover repeti- tions of such letters, so arranged, they will most probably rep- resent the word ‘the.’ Upon inspection, we find no less than seven such arrangements, the characters being ;48. We may, therefore, assume that the semicolon represents ¢, that 4 rep- resents h, and that 8 represents e,—the last being now well con- firmed. Thus a great step has been taken. “But, having established a single word, we are enabled to establish a vastly important point; that is to say, several com- mencements and terminations of other words. Let us refer, for example, to the last instance but one, in which the combination -48 occurs,—not far from the end of the cipher. We know that the semicolon immediately ensuing is the commencement of a word, and, of the six characters succeeding this ‘the,’ we are cognizant of no less than five. Let us set these characters down, thus, by the letters we know them to represent, leaving a space for the unknown— t eeth. “ Tere we are enabled, at once, to discard the ‘ th, as form- ing no portion of the word commencing with the first 7; since, by experiment of the entire alphabet for a letter adapted to the vacancy, we perceive that no word can be formed of which this th can be a part. We are thus narrowed into bee: and, going through the alphabet, if necessary, as before, we arrive at the word ‘tree,’ as the sole possible reading. We thus gain another letter, r, represented by (, with the words ‘the tree’ in juxtaposition. “ Looking beyond these words, for a short distance, we again see the combination ;48, and employ it by way of termination to what immediately precedes. We have thus this arrange- HE RT SET BSR ESE a AE aE RAPE EE REESE SAT Ae cunereTHE GOLD-BUG the tree ;4(£°34 the, or, substituting the natural letters, where known, it reads thus: tie thee Hatiacome tac: “ Now, if, in place of the unknown characters, we leave blank spaces, or substitute dots, we read thus: the tee thig...M tite, when the word ‘ through’ makes itself evident at once. But the discovery gives us three new letters, 0, u, and g, repre- sented by +? and 3. “Looking now, narrowly, through the cipher for combina- tions of known characters, we find, not very far from the begin- ning, this arrangement, SSSor Om, eotiec, which, plainly, is the conclusion of the word ‘ degree,’ and gives us another letter, d, represented by f. “Four letters beyond the word ‘degree,’ we perceive the combination, 346( ;88*. “Translating the known characters, and representing the un- known by dots, as before, we read thus: teMistance, an arrangement immediately suggestive of the word ‘ thirteen,’ and again furnishing us with two new characters, 7 and n, rep- resented by 6 and *. “Referring, now, to the beginning of the cryptograph, we find the combination, SSELY. “Translating, as before, we obtain . good, which assures us that the first letter is 4A, and that the first two words are ‘A good.’ “To avoid confusion, it is now time that we arrange our key, as far as discovered, in a tabular form. It will stand thus:> eR sth i ermemen cone ees ety rear eurtbereeee re ees = Po ISSO sr ree Fe ae Ree ae ee eee ee a ee a THE GOLD-BUG 41 s 5 represents a id = Se | See ee 4 5 h = 6 : i x é n £ a O Ce ; . t “We have, therefore, no less than ten of the most important letters represented, and it will be unnecessary to proceed with the details of the solution. I have said enough to convince you that ciphers of this nature are readily soluble, and to give you some insight into the rationale of their development. But be assured that the specimen before us appertains to the very simplest species of cryptograph. It now only remains to give you the full translation of the characters upon the parchment, as unriddled. Here it is:— “4 good glass in the bishop’s hostel in the devil's seat twenty-one degrees and thirteen minutes northeast and by north main branch seventh limb cast side shoot from the left eye of the death’s-head a bee-line from the tree through the shot fifty feet out.” “But,” said I, “ the enigma seems still in as bad a condition as ever. How is it possible to extort a meaning from all this jargon about ‘devil’s seats,’ ‘death’s-heads,’ and ‘ bishop’s OLets ae “T confess,” replied Legrand, “that the matter still wears a serious aspect, when regarded with a casual glance. My first endeavor was to divide the sentence into the natural division intended by the cryptographist.” “You mean to punctuate it?” “ Something of that kind.” BaRnomnGrEER REAR ace PR EE REET if FEF . ETP E TEER EPERGEEOS TSE 2 oie ei rie cpeaes bres hiiete Late rieers nate tieseseaein iets reste ree aIHTHLEGHLEIATHGHPESSaBES EG SURES RESHRSPGaE OSHS THE GOLD-BUG “But how was it possible to effect this?” “TI reflected that it had been a point with the writer to run his words together without division, so as to increase the diffi- culty of solution. Now, a not over acute man, in pursuing such an object, would be nearly certain to overdo the manner. When, in the course of his composition, he arrived at a break in his subject which would naturally require a pause, or a point, he would be exceedingly apt to run his characters, at this place, more than usually close together. If you will observe the MS. in the present instance, you will easily detect five such cases of unusual crowding. Acting on this hint, I made the division thus :— ““A good glass in the bishop’s hostel in the devil’s seat— twenty-one degrees and thirteen minutes—northeast and by north—main branch seventh limb east side—shoot from the left eye of the death's head—a bee-line from the tree through the shot fifty feet out.” “Even this division,” said I, “ leaves me still in the dark.” “It left me also in the dark,” replied Legrand, “ for a few days, during which I made diligent inquiry, in the neighbor- hood of Sullivan’s Island, for any building which went by the name of the ‘ Bishop’s Hotel,—for of course I dropped the obsolete word ‘ hostel.’ Gaining no information on the subject, I was on the point of extending my sphere of search, and pro-. ceeding in a more systematic manner, when, one morning, it entered into my head, quite suddenly, that this ‘ Bishop’s Hos- tel’ might have some reference to an old family, of the name of Bessop, which, time out of mind, had held possession of an ancient manor-house, about four miles to the northward of the island. I accordingly went over to the plantation, and rein- stituted my inquiries among the older negroes of the place. At length one of the most aged of the women said that she had heard of such a place as Bessop’s Castle, and thought that shePeseta th rtrietrcecnn scoteeete teenie -seete bacce sees. by areas starter eens ee eS Sa a ee ie GOED BUG could guide me to it, but that it was not a castle, nor a tavern, but a high rock. _ “T offered to pay her well for her trouble, and, after some demur, she consented to accompany me to the spot. We found it without much difficulty, when, dismissing her, I proceeded to examine the place. The ‘castle’ consisted of an irregular assemblage of cliffs and rocks—one of the latter being quite remarkable for its height as well as for its insulated and arti- ficial appearance. I clambered to its apex, and then felt much at a loss as to what should be next done. “While I was busied in reflection, my eyes fell upon a nar- row ledge in the eastern face of the rock, perhaps a yard below the summit upon which I stood. This ledge projected about eighteen inches, and was not more than a foot wide, while a niche in the cliff just above it gave it a rude resemblance to one of the hollow-backed chairs used by our ancestors. I made no doubt that here was the ‘ devil’s seat’ alluded to! in the MS., and now I seemed to grasp the full secret of the rid- dle. “The ‘ good glass,’ I knew, could have reference to nothing but a telescope; for the word ‘ glass’ is rarely employed in any other sense by seamen. Now here, I at once saw, was a tele- scope to be used, and a definite point of view, admitting no variation, from which to use it. Nor did I hesitate to believe that the phrase ‘ twenty-one degrees and thirteen minutes’ and ‘northeast and by north,’ were intended as directions for the leveling of the glass. Greatly excited by these discoveries, I hurried home, procured a telescope, and returned to the rock. “T let myself down to the ledge, and found that it was im- possible to retain a seat upon it except in one particular posi- tion. This fact confirmed my preconceived idea. I proceeded 1 Alluded to. What would have been a better verb to use here? eyewear aey3 ER GS aa Se TE HRS RG ETRE EERE aE RH SERINE TEENA ic a HSPetes wareha tues saee ee he eees THE GOLD-BUG to use the glass. Of course, the ‘twenty-one degrees and thir- teen minutes’ could allude to nothing but elevation above the visible horizon, since the horizontal direction was clearly indi- cated by the words, ‘northeast and by north.’ This latter direc- tion I at once established by means of a pocket-compass; then, pointing the glass as nearly at an angle of twenty-one degrees of elevation as I could do it by guess, I moved it cautiously up or down, until my attention was arrested by a circular rift or opening in the foliage of a large tree that overtopped its fellows in the distance. In the center of this rift I perceived a white spot, but could not, at first, distinguish what it was. Adjusting the focus of the telescope, I again looked, and now made it out to be a human skull. “On this discovery I was so sanguine as to consider the enigma solved ; for the phrase *‘ main branch, seventh limb, east side’ could refer only to the position of the skull on the tree, while ‘shoot from the left eye of the death’s-head’ admitted also of but one interpretation, in regard to a search for buried treasure. I perceived that the design was to drop a bullet from the left eye of the skull, and that a bee-line, or, in other words, a straight line, drawn from the nearest point of the trunk through ‘the shot’ (or the spot where the bullet fell) and thence extended to a distance of fifty feet, would indicate a defi- nite point—and beneath this point I thought it at least possible that a deposit of value lay concealed.” pllvthis; A said, “is exceedingly clear, and, althoush in- genious, still simple and explicit. When you left the Bishop’s Hotel, what then?” “Why, having carefully taken the bearings of the tree, I turned homewards. The instant that I left the ‘devil’s seat,’ however, the circular rift vanished; nor could I get a glimpse of it afterwards, turn as I would. What seems to me the chief ingenuity in this whole business is the fact (for repeated experi- TRUER OEUSHEAEHURSSERRSHER HTL oge ae cere ors = ESSEC Srssssee EES aah Ty ae ee ee Ptptie—stere ses 7 ~ eosvers Setasece it inate star adieetbe sss taegwsvetseaee7irads tsteds Fetters ist isies bees tases rere Sa iatecw Pree e re nat. SeStdente ty thi eer te TTT = Seeenabassrars bawen en eeiinaeeees Sree ees Esteseeee eres Seer ere tis. TE GOED-B UG 45 ment has convinced me it is a fact) that the circular opening in © question is visible from no other attainable point of view than that afforded by the narrow ledge on the face of the rock. “In this expedition to the ‘ Bishop’s Hotel’ I had been at- tended by Jupiter, who had no doubt observed for some weeks past the abstraction of my demeanor, and took especial care not to leave me alone. But, on the next day, getting up very early, I contrived to give him the slip, and went into the hills in Seareh of the tree. After much tol 1 fteound it Wien U came home at night my valet proposed to give me a flogging. With the rest of the adventure I believe you are as well acquainted as myself.” “I, suppose,” said I, “ you missed the spot, in the first at- tempt at digging, through Jupiter’s stupidity in letting the bug fall through the right instead of through the left eye of the Sleimlte 7 “Precisely. This mistake made a difference of about two inches and a half in the ‘ shot, —that is to say, in the position of the peg nearest the tree; and had the treasure been beneath the ‘ shot,’ the error would have been of little moment; but the ‘ shot,’ together with the nearest point of the tree, were merely two points for the establishment of a line of direction ; of course the error, however trivial in the beginning, increased as we proceeded with the line, and by the time we had gone fifty feet, threw us quite off the scent. But for my deep- seated convictions that treasure was here somewhere actually buried, we might have had all our labor in vain.” “TI presume the fancy of the skull—of letting fall a bullet through the skull’s eye—was suggested to Kidd by the piratical flag. No doubt he felt a kind of poetical consistency in recov- ering his money through this ominous insignium.”* “ Perhaps so; still, I cannot help thinking that common-sense 1 Insignium, What mistake has the author made here in his Latin? Sastcee Ss eee Th Te paw ecb aere revere Sots e bee Eee ee oe ee ane na weet nee Sees nee Oak DEUS ST SD Oe ONS ERS SES OE PLES Bere eee aT = ao eereeerk es sree oises = > ets as SS ee ee Soe See ae eS Nene rege Ss ual “a i viru \ RALSTSERRRESEEREDERSEATEReSUERMOARAEATAE eet a RSHgASSRaHAMUAGSERIESEOaesUS A VEALGaLONET eres THE GOLD-BUG had quite as much to do with the matter as poetical consistency. To be visible from the Devil’s seat, it was necessary that the object, if small, should be white: and there is nothing like your human skull for retaining and even increasing its whiteness under the exposure to all vicissitudes of weather.” “But your grandiloquence, and your conduct in swinging the beetle—how excessively odd! I was sure you were mad. And why did you insist on letting fall the bug, instead of a bul- let, from the skull?” “Why, to be frank, I felt somewhat annoyed by your evident suspicions touching my sanity, and so resolved to punish you quietly, in my own way, by a little bit of sober mystification. For this reason I swung the beetle, and for this reason I let it fall from the tree. An observation of yours about its great weight suggested the latter idea.” “Yes, I perceive; and now there is only one point which puzzles me. What are we to make of the skeletons found in the hole?” “ That is a question I am no more able to answer than your- self. There seems, however, only one plausible way of account- ing for them—and yet it is dreadful to believe in such atrocity as my suggestion would imply. It is clear that Kidd—if Kidd indeed secreted this treasure, which I doubt not—it is clear that he must have had assistance in the labor. But this labor con- cluded, he may have thought it expedient to remove all partici- pants in his secret. Perhaps a couple of blows with a mattock were sufficient, while his coadjutors were busy in the pit; per- haps it required a dozen—who shall tell?” yeas sees s ir) 7 = RSS TEES Sys BESTS Sy Taser aE EES BT TBE DRE TEST tibe eesesPePeEts SE SS0b SROES as1E} a ep ty Sy ars Saba bess tasa3 sess Seaway; rare tsem a irate teehee ta SER Ss - ae ate sare st setae sages lee: ee ; Leh e cs ats qe SSSA DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM’ THE ways of God in Nature, as in Providence, are not our ways; nor are the models that we frame any way commensurate to the vastness, profundity, and unsearchableness of His works, which have a depth in them greater than the well of Democritus.—JosEPH GLANVILL.? WE HAD now reached the summit of the loftiest crag. For some minutes the old man seemed too much exhausted to speak. ~ Not long ago,” said he, at length, “and I could have guided you on this route as well as the youngest of my sons; but about three years past, there happened to me an event such as never happened before to mortal man—or at least such as no man ever survived to tell of—and the six hours of deadly terror which I then endured have broken me up body and soul. You suppose me a very old man—but I am not. It took less than a single day to change these hairs from a jetty black to white, to weaken my limbs, and to unstring my nerves, so that I tremble at the least exertion, and am frightened at a shadow. Do you know I can scarcely look over this little cliff without getting giddy?” The “little cliff,’ upon whose edge he had so carelessly thrown himself to rest that the weightier portion of his body hung over it, while he was only kept from falling? by the tenure of his elbow on its extreme and slippery edge—this “little cliff’ arose, a sheer unobstructed precipice of black shining rock, some fifteen or sixteen hundred feet from the world of 1 Maelstrom (or Moskéstrém): a whirlpool off the western coast of Norway, which, while not quite so terrible as Poe has described it, has a sufficient current to render it a source of danger to vessels. 2 Joseph Glanvill: an English writer of the seventeenth century. 3 Only kept from falling. Is this construction correct? 47 SSeS Somes tres tees eresSHS OSPUDUESGSESUOEEREEAESERNEAUSNSESE NT 48 Ae DESCHNG INGO WERE WAST ROM crags beneath us. Nothing would have tempted me to within half a dozen yards of its brink. In truth, so deeply was I ex- cited by the perilous position of my companion, that I fell at full length upon the ground, clung to the shrubs around me, and dared not even glance upward at the sky—while I strug- gled in vain to divest myself of the idea that the very founda- tions of the mountain were in danger from the fury of the winds. It was long before I could reason myself into sufficient courage to sit up and look out into the distance. “You must get over these fancies,” said the guide, “ for I have brought you here that you might have the best possible view of the scene of that event I mentioned—and to tell you the whole story with the spot just under your eye.” “We are now,” he continued, in that particularizing manner which distinguished him—‘‘ we are now close upon the Nor- wegian coast—in the sixty-eighth degree of latitude—in the great province of Nordland'—and in the dreary district of Lofoden. The mountain upon whose top we sit is Helseggen, the Cloudy. Now raise yourself up a little higher—hold on to the grass if you feel giddy—so—and look out, beyond the belt of vapor beneath us, into the sea.” I looked dizzily, and beheld a wide expanse of ocean, whose waters wore so inky a hue as to bring at once to my mind the Nubian geographer’s account of the Mare Tenebrarum’. A panorama more deplorably desolate no human imagination can conceive. To the right and left, as far as the eye could reach, there lay outstretched, like ramparts of the world, lines of horribly black and beetling cliff, whose character of gloom was but the more forcibly illustrated by the surf which reared high up against it its white and ghastly crest, howling and shrieking 1 Nordland. Most of the geographical names given in this tale are real, though a few probably were evolved from the author’s imagination. 2 Mare Tenebrarum: Sea of Shadows. By ‘the Nubian geographer’ Poe prob- ably means Claudius Ptolemy.= a x7: — aseeer a Paes Ser errereee eee statis. Sy stesnesereverettessg ig teers saraesieieeeeee oases Sasser sSs Sas eresess Skea sean egiesee estes aera eegen neat ia Coton we taaree sess ee eee “2 =— Paseorcees oe Sis tsrteetsess ees ris ee ees ae AN DESCEND INTO, BE MARES PROw 49 forever. Just opposite the promontory upon whose apex we were placed, and at a distance of some five or six miles out at sea, there was visible a small, bleak-looking island; or, more properly, its position was discernible through the wilderness of surge in which it was enveloped. About two miles nearer the land arose another of smaller size, hideously craggy and bar- ren, and encompassed at various intervals by a cluster of dark rocks. The appearance of the ocean, in the space between the more distant island and the shore, had something very unusual about it. Although, at the time, so strong a gale was blowing landward that a brig in the remote offing lay to under a double-reefed trysail, and constantly plunged her whole hull out of sight, still there was here nothing like a regular swell, but only a short, quick, angry cross dashing of water in every direction—as well in the teeth of the wind as otherwise. Of foam there was little except in the immediate vicinity of the rocks. “ The island in the distance,” resumed the old man, “is called by the Norwegians Vurrgh. The one midway is Moskoe. That a mile to the northward is Ambaaren. Yonder are Iflesen, Hoeyholm, Kieldhelm, Suarven, and Buckholm. Farther off— between Moskoe and Vurrgh—are Otterholm, Flimen, Sand- flesen, and Skarholm, These are the true names of the places— but why it has been thought necessary to name them at all, is more than either you or I can understand. Do you hear any- thing? Do you see any change in the water?” We had now been about ten minutes upon the top of Helseg- gen, to which we had ascended from the interior of Lofoden, so that we had caught no glimpse of the sea until it had burst upon us from the summit. As the old man spoke, I became aware of a loud and gradually increasing sound, like the moan- ing of a vast herd of buffaloes upon an American prairie; and a So RNSRE RIE RR ERE TAT RET HUARD IER EGRET MGRREE SHEESH aes aed Tne! aga orSe SSS = Sastre st meitchsbake ke teeth See oe see yea oe 50 A DESCUNE INDO DE VARIES ROM at the same moment I perceived what seamen term the chop- ping character of the ocean beneath us, was rapidly changing into a current which set to the eastward. Even while I gazed, this current acquired a monstrous velocity. Each moment added to its speed—to its headlong impetuosity. In five min- utes the whole sea, as far as Vurrgh, was lashed into ungovern- able fury; but it was between Moskoe and the coast that the main uproar held its sway. Here the vast bed of the waters, seamed and scarred into a thousand conflicting channels, burst suddenly into frenzied convulsion—heaving, boiling, hissing— gyrating in gigantic and innumerable vortices, and all whirling and plunging on to the eastward with a rapidity which water never elsewhere assumes, except in precipitous descents. In a few minutes more, there came over the scene another radical alteration. The general surface grew somewhat more smooth, and the whirlpools, one by one, disappeared, while prodigious streaks of foam became apparent where none had been seen before. These streaks, at length, spreading out to a great distance, and entering into combination, took unto themselves the gyratory motion of the subsided vortices, and seemed to form the germ of another more vast. Suddenly— very suddenly—this assumed a distinct and definite existence, in a circle of more than a mile in diameter. Phe edge of the whirl was represented by a broad belt of gleaming spray; but no particle of this slipped into the mouth of the terrific funnel, whose interior, as far as the eye could fathom it, was a smooth, shining, and jet-black wall of water, inclined to the horizon at an angle of some forty-five degrees, speeding dizzily round and round with a swaying and sweltering motion, and sending forth to the winds an appalling voice, half shriek, half roar, such as not even the mighty cataract of Niagara ever lifts up in its agony to Heaven. USGS HREESHSERDURNIUUSSEAEPLALEE 1 Chopping: having short, breaking, tumbling waves. a 5 res = — = = ns - ESSE eee 4 weit 7 ae See i fig buries sas ; Sse sess .Pr ee eat te Tree a Tera ticetea sta: nteetist sete mepestecerstecstersiets es Sette eet eeee Stent tan Sante teue Let ase eapee wisisestaee od ek head ages spareenerateteese Soha s2e weregersensertee Sosgonsh s SeninsaanseaE Stee Sees Seed nen Rete RESIST eee St MET eater gs Sees sees reagent eels oer eee eee eee A DESEENDT INO! DHE MARESTRRON ol The mountain trembled to its very base, and the rock rocked. I threw myself upon my face, and clung to the scant herbage in an excess of nervous agitation. “This,” said I, at length, to the old man, “this can be nothing else than the great whirlpool of the Maelstrom.” “So it is sometimes termed,” said he. “We Norwegians call it the Moskoe-strom, from the island of Moskoe in the mid- way.” The ordinary accounts of this vortex had by no means pre- pared me for what I saw. That of Jonas Ramus,! which is per- haps the most circumstantial of any, cannot impart the faintest conception either of the magnificence, or of the horror of the scene—or of the wild bewildering sense of the novel which con- founds the beholder. I am not sure from what point of view the writer in question surveyed it, nor at what time; but it could neither have been from the summit of Helseggen, nor during a storm. There are some passages of his description, nevertheless, which may be quoted for their details, although their effect is exceedingly feeble in conveying an impression of the spectacle. “ Between Lofoden and Moskoe,” he says, “ the depth of the water is between thirty-six and forty fathoms; but on the other side, toward Ver (Vurrgh) this depth decreases so as not to afford a convenient passage for a vessel, without the risk of splitting on the rocks, which happens even in the calmest weather. When it is flood, the stream runs up the country be- tween Lofoden and Moskoe with a boisterous rapidity; but the roar of its impetuous ebb to the sea is scarce equaled by the loudest and most dreadful cataracts; the noise being heard several leagues off, and the vortices or pits are of such an ex- tent and depth, that if a ship comes within its attraction, it is inevitably absorbed and carried down to the bottom, and there 1 Jonas Ramus: a Norwegian writer, nO Sr aa acu SE ae EEE RT ERE aL5S Rots GPFORRHEESASOUSRSES STS ST ONGESEAAE OLDE SRR IHE HLH 52 Ae DESCENG UNTO) Mile NAb St ROM beat to pieces against the rocks; and when the water relaxes, the fragments thereof are thrown up again. But these inter- vals of tranquillity are only at the turn of the ebb and flood, and in calm weather, and last but a quarter of an hour, its vio- lence gradually returning. When the stream is most boister- ous, and its fury heightened by a storm, it is dangerous to come within a Norway mile! of it. Boats, yachts, and ships have been carried away by not guarding against it before they were within its reach. It likewise happens frequently that whales come too near the stream, and are overpowered by its violence; and then it is impossible to describe their howlings and bellowings in their fruitless struggles to disengage them- selves. A bear once, attempting to swim from Lofoden to Moskoe, was caught by the stream and borne down, while he roared terribly, so as to be heard on shore. Large stocks of firs and pine trees, after being absorbed by the current, rise again broken and torn to such a degree as if bristles grew upon them. This plainly shows the bottom to consist of craggy rocks, among which they are whirled to and fro. This stream is regulated by the flux and reflux of the sea—it being con- stantly high and low water every six hours. In the year 1645, early in the morning of Sexagesima? Sunday, it raged with such noise and impetuosity that the very stones of the houses on the coast fell to the ground.” In regard to the depth of the water, I could not see how this could have been ascertained at all in the immediate vicinity of the vortex. The “ forty fathoms ” must have reference only to portions of the channel close upon the shore either of Mos- koe or Lofoden. The depth in the center of the Moskoe-strom must be immeasurably greater; and no better proof of this fact is necessary than can be obtained from even the sidelong glance 1 A Norway mile is over four times the length of an English mile. 2 Sexagesima: in the Church calendar the second Sunday before Lent. : ——— i ; ereiiges eres) bibs NODS PEE i seraspecsrenss Tastee ete ee eee Paseo mane. = er pees Sets s bess iret oes ie ee wore soceseesonsehs rt nieere sock )) Smee teSes tS test wentennenas ee eee te tf Stee she tbunteartersrtetees prvetrs bee ee ee a LO ae wae SERS Eee en ae ae eee Se ee ere A DESCENE INTO Mee MARES ROM 53 into the abyss of the whirl which may be had from the high- est crag of Helseggen. Looking down from this pinnacle upon the howling Phlegethon* below, it appeared to me a self-evident thing that the largest ships of the line? in existence, coming within the influence of that deadly attraction, could resist it as little as a feather the hurricane, and must disappear bodily and at once. The attempts to account for the phenomenon—some of which, I remember, seemed to me sufficiently plausible in pe- rusal—now wore a very different and unsatisfactory aspect. The idea generally received is that this, as well as three smaller vortices among the Ferroe islands, “ have no other cause than the collision of waves rising and falling, at flux and reflux, against a ridge of rocks and shelves, which confines the water so that it precipitates itself like a cataract; and thus the higher the flood rises, the deeper must the fall be, and the natural re- sult of all is a whirlpool or vortex, the prodigious suction of which is sufficiently known by lesser experiments.” These are the words of the Encyclopadia Sritannica. Kircher*® and others imagine that the center of the channel of the Maelstrom is an abyss penetrating the globe, and issuing in some very remote part—the Gulf of Bothnia being somewhat decidedly named in one instance. This opinion, idle in itself, was the one to which, as I gazed, my imagination most readily assented ; and, mentioning it to the guide, I was rather surprised to hear him say that, although it was the view almost universally enter- tained of the subject by the Norwegians, it nevertheless was not his own. As to the former notion he confessed his inability to comprehend it; and here I agreed with him—for, however conclusive on paper, it becomes altogether unintelligible, and even absurd, amid the thunder of the abyss. 1 Phlegethon: in classic mythology a river of fire which flowed through Hades. 2 Ships of the line: ships that have a place in the line of battle; 7. e., warships. 3 Kircher: a scientist of the seventeenth century. aH cones g ne IESE GTR TGR a anc ETT SE MT aoa Rac RE f i rtGFERRH Lg euaP UGESEERGEARCHIE TSE A UGEREEES LGR PeIHREGERS Ta sHARSRALSaEStS SARS EacHRU uate sBstH taaaaT CH EaSES EH ER TEESEOERSIEUSHIEHEELE BUCEDESELESS 3 be! Mia A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM “You have had a good look at the whirl now,” said the old man, “and if you creep round this crag, so as to get in its lee, and deaden the roar of the water, I will tell you a story that will convince you I ought to know something of the Moskoe- strom.” I placed myself as desired, and he proceeded. “ Myself and my two brotherst once owned a schooner-rigged smack of about seventy tons burthen, with which we were in the habit of fishing among the islands beyond Moskoe, nearly to Vurrgh. In all violent eddies at sea there is good fishing, at proper opportunities, if one has only the courage to attempt it; but among the whole of the Lofoden coastmen, we three were the only ones who made a regular business of going out to the islands, as I tell you. The usual grounds are a great way lower down to the southward. There fish can be caught at all hours, without much risk, and therefore these places are preferred. The choice spots over here among the rocks, how- ever, not only yield the finest variety, but, in far greater abun- dance’; so that we often’ got ‘in a single day what the more timid of the craft could ‘not scrape together in a week. In fact, we made it a matter of desperate speculation—the risk of life standing instead of labor, and courage answering for capital. “ We kept the smacks in a cove about five miles higher up the coast than this; and it was our practice, in fine weather, to take advantage of the fifteen minutes slack® to push across the main channel of the Moskoe-strom, far above the pool, and then drop down upon anchorage somewhere near Otterholm, or Sandflesen, where the eddies are not so violent as elsewhere. Here we used to remain until nearly time for slack-water* 1 Myself and my two brothers. Of what offenses against good taste is the author guilty here? Not only yield... but, etc. How might this construction be improved? Slack: the time when the tide runs slowly, or the water is at rest, Slack-water: turn of the tide, He 09 boRete aeee tata Peer eee eae en sere TRE eT TTT TRE on nee Stee ere ee 2 nee = = Sie ee ee eeareeanetet res ire: Stpceciresssete strirare 7 Sse ne re sorp eas stab nee estes teen eres ae peek Sate RR eee Steere Sei eenta Seer? Senet aness teaprsisegeas resis eas ryipitcmpee wisivereie terse A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM 55 again, when we weighed and made for home. We never set out upon this expedition without a steady side wind for go- ing and coming—one that we felt sure would not fail us before our return—and we seldom made a miscalculation upon this point. Twice, during six years, we were forced to stay all night at anchor on account of a dead calm, which is a rare thing indeed just about here; and once we had to remain on the grounds nearly a week, starving to death, owing to a gale which blew up shortly after our arrival, and made the chan- nel too boisterous to be thought of. Upon this occasion we should have been driven out to sea in spite of everything (for the whirlpools threw us round and round so violently, that, at length, we fouled our anchor and dragged it), if it had not been that we drifted into one of the innumerable cross currents —here to-day and gone to-morrow—which drove us under the lee of Flimen, where, by good luck, we brought up. “T could not tell you the twentieth part of the difficulties we encountered ‘on the ground ’—it is a bad spot to be in, even in good weather—but we make shift always to run the gauntlet of the Moskoe-strom itself without accident; although at times my heart has been in my mouth when we happened to be a min- ute or so behind or before the slack. The wind sometimes was not as strong as we thought it at starting, and then we made rather less way than we could wish, while the current rendered the smack unmanageable. My eldest brother had a son eigh- teen years old, and I had two stout boys of my own. These would have been of great assistance at such times, in using the sweeps! as well as afterward in fishing—but, somehow, al- though we ran the risk ourselves, we had not the heart to let the young ones get into the danger—for, after all is said and done, it was a horrible danger, and that is the truth. 1 Sweeps: large oars which assist in the steering as well as in the propelling of the craft. Ea SE Garant lateititterun eg Neue ERT SR eau TTHOSRUAASPHnaneaeae HLL RHEeRRR SHEAR AERA A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM “It is now within a few days of three years since what I am going to tell you occurred. It was on the tenth on yrily, 18. a day which the people of this part of the world will never for- get—for it was one in which blew the most terrible hurricane that ever came out of the heavens. And yet all the morning, and, indeed, until late in the afternoon, there was a gentle and steady breeze from the southwest, while the sun shone brightly, so that the oldest seaman among us could not have seen what was to follow. Pelte three of ts—my two brothers and myselft—had crossed over to the islands about two o’clock Pp. mM., and soon nearly loaded the smack with fine fish, which, we all remarked, were more plenty that day than we had ever known Emer it was just seven, by my watch, when we weighed and started for home, so as to make the worst of the Strom at slack water, which we knew would be at eight. “We set out with a fresh wind at our starboard quarter, and for some time spanked? along at a great rate, never dream- ing of danger, for indeed, we saw not the slightest reason to apprehend it. All at once we were taken aback? by a breeze from over Helseggen. This was most unusual—something that had never happened to us—and I began to feel a little uneasy, without exactly knowing why. We put the boat on the wind, but could make no headway at all for the eddies, and I was upon the point of proposing to return to the anchorage, when, looking astern, we saw the whole horizon covered with a singular copper-colored cloud that rose with the most amazing velocity. ~ In the meantime the breeze that had headed us off fell away and we were dead becalmed, drifting about in every 1 Myself. See note on pe 4 2 Spanked: moved guickly. 8 Taken aback. That is, the wind shifted so that their sails were laid back.' erat: eter Sey Tate Te eee eens SECO Ee at ee te See eee serine ears. [acon oe eaiares Be eee rans we are ertrares este takes eeeteenns er eee Sa ete ee Se ee ee eee eee eeaee iiss sete ee eal Sa eee ee ee eT SS SSS ESS SSS Sates ty rears epee ope eee ea ees Seana A DESCENT. INTO THE MAELSTROM of direction. This state of things, however, did not last long enough to give us time to think about it. In less than a minute the storm was upon us—in less than two the sky was entirely overcast—and what with this and the driving spray, it became suddenly so dark that we could not see each other in the smack, “Such a hurricane as then blew it is folly to attempt de- scribing. The oldest seamen in Norway never experienced anything like it. We had let our sails go by the run? before it cleverly? took us; but, at the first puff, both our masts went by the board® as if they had been sawed off—the mainmast taking with it my youngest brother, who had lashed himself to it for safety. “ Our boat was the lightest feather of a thing that ever sat upon water. It had a complete flush deck,* with only a small hatch near the bow, and this hatch it had always been our cus- tom to batten down’ when about to cross the Strom, by way of precaution against the chopping seas. But for this circum- stance we should have foundered at once—for we lay entirely buried for some moments. How my elder brother escaped de- struction, I cannot say, for I never had an opportunity of as- certaining. For my part, as soon as I had let the foresail run, I threw myself flat on deck, with my feet against the narrow gunwale of the bow, and with my hands grasping a ring-bolt near the foot of the foremast. It was mere instinct that prompted me to do this—which was undoubtedly the very best thing I could have done—for I was too much flurried to think. “For some moments we were completely deluged, I say, and all this time I held my breath, and clung to the bolt. When I could stand it no longer I raised myself upon my knees, still By the run: quickly. Cleverly: fairly. By the board: overboard. Flush deck: upper deck free of encumbrances. Batten: fasten with strips of wood, or battens. Or 09 bo Ht ro aoctesetenssreseret RS HOHAN: ETE SET TRRERR TEBE currant rap SSR MGte aed aia asmen (eeuwigssde piven esa Ce EE UO Tptb sae ae setae mi praeeeteheseiece? st eo sad Sarat eeeeeEees p SS Anas FIRST ple ees opetsesnseseesy sats bayteentesareiebene kh ket 58 fe IDE SICIBIN ION) AIEU3, WAI ILS ILIRO)NE keeping hold with my hands, and thus got my head clear. Presently our little boat gave herself a shake, just as a dog does in coming out of the water, and thus rid herself, in some measure, of the seas. I was now trying to get the better of the stupor that had come over me, and to collect my senses so as to see what was to be done, when I felt somebody grasp my arm. It was my elder brother, and my heart leaped for joy, for I had made sure that he was overboard—but the next mo- ment all this joy was turned into horror—for he put his mouth close to my ear, and screamed out the word ‘ Moskoe-strom!’ ~ No one will ever know what my feelings were at the mo- ment. I shook from head to foot as if I had the most violent fit of the ague. I knew what he meant by that one word well enough—-I knew what he wished to make me understand. With the wind that now drove us on, we were bound for the whirl of the Strom, and nothing could save us! “ You perceive that in crossing the Strom channel, we always went a long way up above the whirl, even in the calmest weather, and then had to wait and watch carefully for the slack —but now we were driving right upon the pool itself, and in such a hurricane as this! ‘ To be sure,’ I thought, ‘ we shall get there just about the slack—there is some little hope in that ’— but in the next moment I cursed myself for being so great a fool as to dream of hope at all. I knew very well that we were doomed, had we been ten times a ninety-gun ship. “ By this time the first fury of the tempest had spent itself, or perhaps we did not feel it much, as we scudded before it, but at all events the seas, which at first had been kept down by the wind, and lay flat and frothing, now got up into absolute moun- tains. A singular change, too, had come over the heavens. Around in every direction it was still as black as pitch, but mearly overhead there burst out, all at once, a circular rift of clear sky—as clear as I ever saw—and of a deep bright blue—CPipete tel oer etree sete aan seer Sywerqesserrerreciessgtstieere eneaeeereeeere tee Ports LPLPRST et ot vuens wivestrtterts ttn iy Sghr oreien tre TS TS TS Se Lr Srsa eee ewes saeeemr ee Ss A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM 59 and through it there blazed forth the full moon with a luster that I never before knew her to wear. She lit up everything about us with the greatest distinctness—but, oh God, what a scene it was to light up! “T now made one or two attempts to speak to my brother— but in some manner in which I could not understand, the din had so increased that I could not make him hear a single word, although I screamed at the top of amy voice in his ear. Pres- ently he shook his head, looking as pale as death, and held up one of his fingers, as if to say, ‘ Listen!’ “ At first I could not make out what he meant—but soon a hideous thought flashed upon me. I dragged my watch from its fob. It was not going. I glanced at its face by the moon- light, and then burst into tears as I flung it far away into the ocean. It had run down at seven o'clock!’ We were behind the time of the slack, and the whirl of the Strom was in full fury! “ When a boat is well built, properly trimmed,’ and not deep laden, the waves in a strong gale, when she is going large, seem always to slip from beneath her—which appears very strange to a landsman—and this is what is called riding, in sea phrase. “ Well, so far we had ridden the swell very cleverly ; but presently a gigantic sea happened to take us right under the counter, and bore us with it as it rose—up—up—as if into the sky. I would not have believed that any wave could rise so high. And then down we came with a sweep, a slide, and a plunge, that made me feel sick and dizzy, as if I was falling from some lofty mountain-top in a dream. But while we were up I had thrown a quick glance around—and that one glance was all-sufficient. I saw our exact position in an instant, The 1 Trimmed: properly balanced, by the correct adjustment of the weight of persons or freight on board. ett es GARISH UG AARSRARSHAGARUAT ATER SH Eco atT ee acta mt F 13 HEE nt H Ue { i tf Raa RRR HEINHee SRAM USESEHSSEAN Hee fe i i: sti f HY iN 60 A IDES CINE IONIC) AMENe, WUAIBILS TRO Moskoe-strom whirlpool was about a quarter of a mile dead ahead—but no more like the every-day Moskoe-strom than the whirl as you now see it is like a mill-race. If I had not known where we were, and what we had to expect, I should not have recognized the place at all. As it was, I voluntarily closed my eyes in horror. The lids clenched themselves together as if in a spasm. “It could not have been more than two minutes afterward until we suddenly felt the waves subside, and were enveloped in foam. The boat made a sharp half turn to larboard, and then shot off in its new direction like a thunderbolt. At the same moment the roaring noise of the water was completely drowned in a kind of shrill shriek—such a sound as you might imagine given out by the water-pipes of many thousand steam- vessels, letting off their steam all together. We were now in the belt of surf that always surrounds the whirl; and I thought, of course, that another moment would plunge us into the abyss —down which we could only see? indistinctly on account of the amazing velocity with which we were borne along. The boat did not seem to sink into the water at all, but to skim like an air-bubble upon the surface of the surge. Her starboard side was next the whirl, and on the larboard arose the world of ocean we had left. It stood like a huge writhing wall between us and the horizon. “It may appear strange, but now, when we were in the very jaws of the gulf, 1 felt more composed than when we were only approaching it. Having made up my mind to hope no more, I got rid of a great deal of that terror which unmanned me at first. I suppose it was despair that strung my nerves. “Tt may look like boasting—but what I tell you is truth— I began to reflect how magnificent a thing it was to die in such a manner, and how foolish it was in me to think of so paltry 1 Could only see. See Note 3, p. 47. and Note 8, p. 47. Set 7 i tenes - arrwaresrrers. eas ladbb rebks tet oe = : = eesicescest = “ a2! wave state tere res tune iaeeessss aeaesarabs s2tees fe titers stsitene Soressc ears rte pee rans ve nas ee ceeeeec sass hs fo siete ence eeece egea gery A DESCEND INT©® th MAPESPROM 61 a consideration as my own individual life, in view of so wonder- ful a manifestation of God’s power. I do believe that I blushed with shame when this idea crossed my mind. After a little while I became possessed with the keenest curiosity about the whirl itself. I positively felt a wish to explore its depths, even at the sacrifice I was going to make; and my principal grief was that I should never be able to tell my old companions on shore about the mysteries I should see. These, no doubt, were singular fancies to occupy a man’s mind in such extremity— and I have often thought since, that the revolutions of the boat around the pool might have rendered me a little light-headed. “There was another circumstance which tended to restore my self-possession: and this was the cessation of the wind, which could not reach us in our present situation—for, as you saw yourself, the belt of surf is considerably lower than the general bed of the ocean, and this latter now towered above us, a high, black, mountainous ridge. If you have never been at sea in a heavy gale, you can form no idea of the confusion of mind occasioned by the wind and spray together. They blind, deafen, and strangle you, and take away all power of action or reflection. But we were now, in a great measure, rid of these annoyances—just as death-condemned felons in prison are allowed petty indulgences, forbidden them while their doom is yet uncertain. “ FHow often we made the circuit of the belt it is impossible to say. We careered round and round for perhaps an hour, flying rather than floating, getting gradually more and more into the middle of the surge, and then nearer and nearer to its horrible inner edge. All this time I had never let go of the ring-bolt. My brother was at the stern, holding on to a small empty watercask which had been securely lashed under the coop of the counter, and was the only thing on deck that had not been swept overboard when the gale first took us. As we ag ORS saa SE STAESRATSRESUL TE ETT a aasaeege as aSSatade et eaten neers eee ee nee es rs 2 ae See piesa? wre vise = pag ae eee a tula Serpes mpayiaee nse wretavats oy eoaeaaeegSed ind tebs econ g bpeneg pee ecg eee ees RAE UADUEEHE aE SESH HESS GReRIESES HED SORE GSS HSH EH STHSS RHPA EE SEER REAPER OEHEE betes 62 DESCEND INDO THE MAPESEROM approached the brink of the pit he let go his hold upon this, and made for the ring, from which, in the agony of his terror, he endeavored to force my hands, as it was not large enough to afford us both a secure grasp. I never felt deeper grief than when I saw him attempt this act—although I knew he was a madman when he did it—a raving maniac through sheer fright. I did not care, however, to contest the point with him. I knew it could make no difference whether either of us held on aie alle so I let him have the bolt, and went astern to the cask. This there was no great difficulty in doing; for the smack flew round steadily enough, and upon an even keel—only swaying to and fro, with the immense sweeps and swelters of the whirl. Scarcely had I secured myself in my new position, when we gave a wild lurch to starboard, and rushed headlong into the abyss. I muttered a hurried prayer to God, and thought all was over. "As I felt the sickening sweep of the descent, I had in- stinctively tightened my hold upon the barrel, and closed my eyes. J*or some seconds I dared not open them—while IT ex- pected instant destruction, and wondered that I was not al- ready in my death-struggles with the water. But moment after moment elapsed. I still lived. The sense of falling had ceased ; and the motion of the vessel seemed much as it had been before, while in the belt of foam, with the exception that she now lay more along. I took courage and looked once again upon the scene. “ Never shall I forget the sensations of awe, horror, and ad- miration with which I gazed about me. The boat appeared to be hanging, as if by magic, midway down, upon the interior surface of a funnel vast in circumference, prodigious in depth, and whose perfectly smooth sides might have been mistaken for ebony, but for the bewildering tapidity with which they spun around, and for the gleaming and ghastly radiance they ee = See - ES — £2 £5 ©8 Fb eoee Per Fira rete wey = Secaspreretesss tsetse ster em hese Leese sb. Sabana eietiistes sss oe ee eee < yeare fa ee wieibsrs raeee ses t $5: leaatre bi rr sees tees ahha 5 a oa fons wae = re fo as Se ieses eerere rs irasiest es ethene ee eee eee . Psi. 3a87 Satiiets ttt 2 ; ; iePier Sraesrwesenctepeeete ty cies ssertwuneaarrersctetrer ee etree Paar ga ge ne ee P _— eae Siieerfecisaissiesissitses Seren obser ates dpisssea nee ssssssttsmsstas ogienisesier siege terete as Se ee eeeereeteenanes fe OAN aesgsece Tie (Siete esooeone Sasa 63 A DESCENT INTO Tht MARESTROM shot forth, as the rays of the full moon, from that circular rift amid the clouds which I have already described, streamed in a flood of golden glory along the black walls, and far away down into the innermost recesses of the abyss. “ At first I was too much confused to observe anything ac- curately. The general burst of terrific grandeur was all that I beheld. When I recovered myself a little, however, my gaze fell instinctively downward. In this direction I was able to ob- tain an unobstructed view, from the manner in which the smack hung on the inclined surface of the pool. She was quite upon an even keel—that is to say, her deck lay in a plane parallel with that of the water—but this latter sloped at an angle of more than forty-five degrees, so that we seemed to be lying upon our beam-ends. I could not help observing, nevertheless, that I had scarcely more difficulty in maintaining my hold and footing in this situation, than if we had been upon a dead level; and this, I suppose, was owing to the speed at which we re- volved. “ The rays of the moon seemed to search the very bottom of the profound gulf; but still I could make out nothing distinctly, on account of a thick mist in which everything there was envel- oped, and over which there hung a magnificent rainbow, like that narrow and tottering bridge which Mussulmans say is the only pathway between Time and Eternity.? This mist, or spray, was no doubt occasioned by the clashing of the great walls of the funnel, as they all met together at the bottom—but the yell that went up to the heavens from out of that mist, I dare not attempt to describe. “Our first slide into the abyss itself, from the belt of foam above, had carried us to a great distance down the slope; but 1 Magnificent rainbow. That is, a lunar rainbow, which is sometimes to be seen, though too faintly to be correctly termed magnificent. 2 That narrow and tottering bridge, etc. According to the Koran, all true be- lievers must, to reach Paradise, pass over the bridge of Al Sirat, which is no wider than a hair and as sharp as a sword-edge. SEER aM EA! eR MTRreOMARHREESESRE TRG at geg cu SRT IIRC tail Renn ae NU SEE: tS passSOAS HANES Suse AIMS TG OTH GRTA UEURESSDESURERESESERURSDSNSEIE? iSthee 64 A DESCENT INTO DHE MAEESTROM our farther descent was by no means proportionate. Round and round we swept—not with any uniform movement—but in dizzying swings and jerks, that sent us sometimes only a few hundred yards—sometimes nearly the complete circuit of the whirl. Our progress downward, at each revolution, was slow, but very perceptible. “Looking about me upon the wide waste of liquid ebony on which we were thus borne, I perceived that our boat was not the only object in the embrace of the whirl. Both above and below us were visible fragments of vessels, large masses of building timber and trunks of trees, with many smaller arti- cles, such as pieces of house furniture, broken boxes, barrels, and staves. I have already described the unnatural curiosity which had taken the place of my original terrors. It appeared to grow upon me as I drew nearer and nearer to my dreadful doom. I now began to watch, with a strange interest, the nu- merous things that floated in our company. I must have been delirious—for I even sought amusement in speculating upon the relative velocities of their several descents toward the foam below. “This fir tree,’ I found myself at one time saying, ‘will certainly be the next thing that takes the awful plunge and disappears,—and then I was disappointed to find that the wreck of a Dutch merchant ship overtook it and went down be- fore. At length, after making several guesses of this nature, and being deceived in all—this fact—the fact of my invariable miscalculation, set me upon a train of reflection that made my limbs again tremble, and my heart beat heavily once more. ~ It was not a new terror that thus affected me, but the dawn of amore exciting hope. This hope arose partly from memory, and partly from present observation. I called to mind the great variety of buoyant matter that strewed the coast of [oro- den, having been absorbed and then thrown forth by the Mos- koe-strom. By far the greater number of the articles were~ s i ” ie m Dehn eet er ee tye tee dee eT ETT eeseceseetes “a SEE SSS Se Bere a eaieriree ts A DESCEND INTO iit MNEESERe@W 65 shattered in the most extraordinary way—so chafed and rough- ened as to have the appearance of being stuck full of splinters —but then I distinctly recollected that there were some of them which were not disfigured at all. Now I could not account for this difference except by supposing that the roughened frag- ments were the only ones which had been completely absorbed —that the others had entered the whirl at so late a period of the tide, or from some reason, had descended so slowly after en- tering, that they did not reach the bottom before the turn of the flood came, or of the ebb, as the case might be. I con- ceived it possible, in either instance, that they might be thus whirled up again to the level of the ocean, without undergoing the fate of those which had been drawn in more early or ab- sorbed more rapidly. I made, also, three important observa- tions. The first was, that as a general rule, the larger the bod- ies were, the more rapid their descent—the second, that, be- tween two masses of equal extent, the one spherical, and the other of any other shape, the superiority in speed of descent was with the sphere—the third, that, between two masses of equal size, the one cylindrical, and the other of any other shape, the cylinder was absorbed the more slowly. Since my escape, I have had several conversations on this subject with an old schoolmaster of the district ; and it was from him that I learned the use of the words ‘ cylinder ’ and ‘ sphere.’ He explained to me—although I have forgotten the explanation—how what I observed was, in fact, the natural consequence of the forms of the floating fragments—and showed me how it happened that a cylinder, swimming in a vortex, offered more resistance to its suction, and was drawn in with greater difficulty than an equally bulky body, of any form whatever. “There was one startling circumstance which went a great way in enforcing these observations, and rendering me anxious to turn them to account, and this was that, at every revolution, : mis eae et ‘ ie 5 RE RST agama cits cena te REN MME Peau: eeeereeeers , : eS Ae ease aes ere Cree ere eee septs t steers teseewe tase oe ee pegs Somesnmaan a Sages abit ate ras aetneasa Se bes aaeea aye anas Cane seoeyg Reeseey cpap tiean pea easter aha ees se eeetee eee NTI Nes ESE abs Sas Gs aT A Sie GEESE TI SSO aS Hi SSEESEES SEES ESSE thy eee ee; 2 SE rneinianeh aes be sven tans messes ee eSt: apates eer att pate peers 66 DESCENT UNO! WEE MAES O M we passed something like a barrel, or else the yard or the mast of the vessel, while many of these things, which had been on our level when I first opened my eyes upon the wonders of the whirlpool, were now high up above us, and seemed to have moved but little from their original station. ~ Ino longer hesitated what to do. I resolved to lash myself securely to the water cask upon which I now held, to cut it loose from the counter, and to throw myself with it into the water. I attracted my brother’s attention by signs, pointed to the floating barrels that came near us, and did everything in my power to make him understand what I was about to do. I thought at length that he comprehended my design—but, whether this was the case or not, he shook his head despair- ingly, and refused to move from his station by the ring-bolt. It was impossible to reach him; the emergency admitted of no delay ; and so with a bitter struggle, I resigned him to his fate, fastened myself to the cask by means of the lashings which se- cured it to the counter, and precipitated myself with it into the sea, without another moment’s hesitation. ~ The result was precisely what I had hoped it might be. As it is myself who now tell you this tale—as you see that I did escape—and as you are already in possession of the mode in which this escape was effected, and must therefore antici- pate all that I have farther to say—I will bring my story quickly to conclusion. It might have been an hour, or there- about, after my quitting the smack, when, having descended to a vast distance beneath me, it made three or four wild gyrations in rapid succession, and, bearing my loved brother with it, plunged headlong, at once and forever, into the chaos of foam below. The barrel to which I was attached sunk very little farther than half the distance between the bottom of the eulf and the spot at which I leaped overboard, before a great change took place in the character of the whirlpool. The slope of the2, nti SSS anes qertesserves Sessa eseeeeseseseseererercs rite pirees segneesiseeeicea tress eases S32 12 tava sty ass saree sages See ene Se Se een tener etree es Sshetesckretueseseester sees tesiniesme assem meeets eases cpists atiwesis sense esse A DESCENT INTO fH MA BESD ROM 67 sides of the vast funnel became momently less and less steep. The gyrations of the whirl grew, gradually, less and less vio- lent. By degrees, the froth and the rainbow disappeared, and the bottom of the gulf seemed slowly to uprise. The sky was clear, the winds had gone down, and the full moon was setting radiantly in the west, when I found myself on the surface of the ocean, in full view of the shores of Lofoden, and above the spot where the pool of the Moskoe-strom had been. It was the hour of the slack—but the sea still heaved in mountainous waves from the effects of the hurricane. I was borne violently into the channel of the Strom, and in a few minutes, was hur- ried down the coast into the ‘grounds’ of the fishermen. A boat picked me up—exhausted from fatigue—and (now that the danger was removed) speechless from the memory of its horror. Those who drew me on board were my old mates and daily companions—but they knew me no more than they would have known a traveler from the spirit-land. My hair, which had been raven-black the day before, was as white as you see it now. They say too that the whole expression of my coun- tenance had changed. I told them my story—they did not be- lieve it. I now tell it to you—and I can scarcely expect you to put more faith in it than did the merry fishermen of Lofoden.” See 2 EE 4 , See ESSE SoFF ETAT ES Ee eee eaieecereenneare Berapabitaarset attic By if eeaeeatseaasaiT nea A UCTS fi eta mee 4 ae r na S58 Fst = = = Sw | Fe fe a, BF aaa moe = z= riz Ei] pao - = a =a aS =: i == SS Fees i= tess PES z= g = = — = a fs is eax Ga a F-5 es Enc aay =e = oe Fa = 23] _—< ieee = verudl = = ay = = = fet? = ie = = ras & = at = a4 iz 2 a E teat TREE MRH at alusaamee sen teatt akFi SSaeSas SSSR RSe ge Serpe eSiSes ae iE br geo aaa sees seeeeaee See Pane rase os eady Ts teat het eee sReSiia Neisiestssabaheabadasstas eset THE PURLOINED LETTER Nil sapientie odiosius acumine nimio. SENECA. + At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18—, I was enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and a meerschaum, in company with my friend C. Auguste Dupin, in his little back library, or book closet, aw troisiéme,? No. 33 Rue Dunot, Faubourg St. Germain. For one hour at least we had maintained a profound silence; while each, to any casual observer, might have seemed intently and exclusively occupied with the curling eddies of smoke that oppressed the atmosphere of the chamber. For myself, however, I was mentally discuss- ing certain topics which had formed matter for conversation be- tween us at an earlier period of the evening; I mean the affair of the Rue Morgue, and the mystery attending the murder of Marie Roget. I looked upon it, therefore, as something of a coincidence, when the door of our apartment was thrown open and admitted our old acquaintance, Monsieur G , the Pre- fect of the Parisian police. We gave him a hearty welcome; for there was nearly half as much of the entertaining as of the contemptible about the man, and we had not seen him for several years. We had been sit- ting in the dark, and Dupin now arose for the purpose of light- | ing a lamp, but sat down again, without doing so, upon G 7 | saying that he had called to consult us, or rather to ask the opinion of my friend, about some official business which had | occasioned a great deal of trouble. 1 Nil sapientie odiosius, etc.: * Nothing is more odious to wisdom than over- acuteness.’’ Seneca was a Roman philosopher of the first century. 2 Au troisiéme: on the third floor. 68Pat PURTOINED livin “Tf it is any point requiring reflection,” observed Dupin, as he forbore to enkindle the wick, “ we shall examine it to better | purpose in the dark.” “That is another of your odd notions,” said the Prefect, who had a fashion of calling everything ‘‘ odd” that was beyond his comprehension, and thus lived amid an absolute legion of “ odd- ities.” “Very true,” said Dupin, as he supplied his visitor with a |pipe, and rolled towards him a comfortable chair. “And what is the difficulty now?’ Lasked. “ Nothing more in the assassination way, I hope?”’ “Oh, no; nothing of that nature. The fact is, the business is very simple indeed, and I make no doubt that we can manage it sufficiently well ourselves; but then I thought Dupin would like to hear the details of it, because it is so excessively odd.” “Simple and odd,” said Dupin. © Whiy, yes; and not exactly that, either, Whe fach ic, we have all been a good deal puzzled because the affair 1s so simple, -and yet baffles us altogether.” “Perhaps it is the very simplicity of the thing which puts /you at fault,” said my friend. “What nonsense you do talk heartily. ‘Perhaps the mystery is a little too plain,” said Dupin. “ Oh, good heavens! who ever heard of such an idea?” “A little too self-evident.” “Fa! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ho! ho! ho!” roared our visitor, profoundly amused. “O Dupin, you will be the death of me vet!” “And what after all is the matter on hand?” I asked. “Why, I will tell you,’ replied the Prefect, as he gave a long, steady, and contemplative puff, and settled himself in his chair. “I will tell you in a few words; but, before I begin, let {? replied the Prefect, laughing , See es reer ese mens eos EE ee ae oS sip ih if ATER itt Hie aaa ANSE saan ET + tt a at ET RMLHEESHES eanaaieaed Ta ASURSHEBUSSSGDERREREED DEAE MISSA SPAE TE : Sys Ie EAT RTS Serna Ee as ssgeassns pepsbsiised eu eaeeeeeeEO re Ges Siete as fit PURLOINED LEM aR me caution you that this is an affair demanding the greatest secrecy, and that I should most probably lose the position I now hold were it known that I confided it to any one.” ~ Proceed,” said I. Or Noe said Dupin. “Well, then; I have received personal information from a very high quarter’ that a certain document of the last impor- tance has been purloined from the royal apartments. The indi- vidual who purloined it is known; this beyond a doubt; he was seen to take it. It is known, also, that it still remains in his possession.” ~ How is this known?” asked Dupin. “It is clearly inferred,” replied the Prefect, “ from the na- ture of the document, and from the non-appearance of certain results which would at once arise from its passing out of the robber’s possession; that is to say, from his employing it as he must design in the end to employ it.” “Be a little more explicit,” I said. “Well, I may venture so far as to say that the paper gives its holder a certain power in a certain quarter where such power is immensely valuable.” The Prefect was fond of the cant of diplomacy. “Still I do not quite understand,” said Dupin. “ No? well; the disclosure of the document to a third person, who shall be nameless, would bring in question the honor of a personage of most exalted station; and this fact gives the holder of the document an ascendency over the illustrious per- sonage whose honor and peace are so jeopardized.” “ But this ascendency,” I interposed, “would depend upon the robber’s knowledge of the loser’s knowledge of the robber. Who would dare ”— “ The thief,” said G——, “ is the Minister D. , who dares 1 High quarter. That is, from some one of high position.THE PURLOINED LETTER all things, those unbecoming as well as those becoming a man. The method of the theft was not less ingenious than bold. The document in question—a letter, to be frank—had been received by the personage robbed while alone in the royal boudoir. During its perusal she was suddenly interrupted by the en- trance of the other exalted personage, from whom especially it was her wish to conceal it. After a hurried and vain endeavor to thrust it into a drawer, she was forced to place it, open as it was, upon a table. The address, however, was uppermost, and, the contents thus exposed, the letter escaped notice. At this juncture enters the Minister D His lynx eye immediately perceives the paper, recognizes the handwriting of the address, observes the confusion of the personage addressed, and fathoms her secret. After some business transactions, hurried through in his ordinary manner, he produces a letter somewhat similar to the one in question, opens it, pretends to read it, and then places it in close juxtaposition to the other. Again he con- verses for some fifteen minutes upon the public affairs. At length in taking leave he takes also from the table the letter to which he had no claim. Its rightful owner saw, but of course dared not call attention to the act, in the presence of the third personage, who stood at her elbow. The minister de- camped, leaving his own letter—one of no importance—upon the table.” “Here, then,” said Dupin to me, “ you have precisely what you demand to make the ascendency complete,—the robber’s knowledge of the loser’s knowledge of the FODDEt 7 “Ves” replied the Prefect; “and the power thus attained has, for some months past, been wielded, for political purposes, to a very dangerous extent. The personage robbed is more thoroughly convinced, every day, of the necessity of reclaiming her letter. But this, of course, cannot be done openly. In fine, driven to despair, she has committed the matter to flees erg sr aa TRI a a aE aRgle eet ee ECS aR RNa S — SCRE cssieaen ens seasnvans oe taba SaaS BE SEGRE. tabs Rec EaTaee a eee aap eee esas este LNT eas BEEN Bead NEST EH EERE 72 APISOS, IRUNSUILOMUNIE ID). LIBR aRI a Iee “Than whom,” said Dupin, amid a perfect whirlwind of smoke, “no more sagacious agent could, I suppose, be desired, or even imagined.” “ You flatter me,” replied the Prefect ; “ but it is possible that some such opinion may have been entertained.” “It is clear,” said I, “as you observe, that the letter is still in possession of the minister; since it is this possession, and not any employment of the letter, which bestows the power. With the employinent the power departs.” © Grue, “cad G ; and upon this conviction I proceeded. My first care was to make thorough search of the minister’s hotel; and here my chief embarrassment lay in the necessity of searching without his knowledge. Beyond all things, I have been warned of the danger which would result from giving him reason to suspect our design.” “ But,” said I, “ you are quite au fait* in these investigations. The Parisian police have done this thing often before.” “Oh, yes; and for this reason I did not despair. The habits of the minister gave me, too, a great advantage. He is fre- quently absent from home all night. His servants are by no means numerous. They sleep at a distance from their master’s apartment, and, being chiefly Neapolitans, are readily made drunk. I have keys, as you know, with which I can open any chamber or cabinet in Paris. For three months a night has not passed, during the greater part of which I have not been en- gaged, personally, in ransacking the D Hotel. My honor is interested, and, to mention a great secret, the reward is enor- mous. So I did not abandon the search until I had become fully satisfied the thief is a more astute man than miyselt. i fancy that I have investigated every nook and corner of the 1 Aw fait: literally, to the point; here, expert. customed to handling such matters. 2 Hotel: mansion. A term applied to the establishment of any person of wealth and position. That is, the police were ac-ewes sa tsa sa + voes sree = Pert sth cerirt ree