11
he turned his eyes hot and inflamed with
watching, towards them. There were FOUR!
He could see only four; but it might be that
some intervening object prevented the fifth
from becoming percptible; and he walked impatiently
to ascertain if it were so. As the
light strengthened, however, and penetrated
every corner of the cell, other objects of amazement
struck his sight. On the ground
lay the broken fragments of the pitcher he had
used the day before, and at a small distance
from them, nearer the wall, stood the one he
had noticed the first night. It was filled with
water, and beside it was his food. He was
now certain, that, by some mechanical contrivance,
an opening was obtained through the
iron wall, and that through this opening the
current of air had found entrance. But how
noisless! For had a feather almost waved at
the time, he must have heard it. Again he
examined that part of the wall; but both to
sight and touch it appeared one even and uniform
surface, while to repeated and violent
blows, there was no reverberating sound
indicative of hollowness.
This perplexing mystery had for a time
withdrawn his thoughts from the windows;
but now directing his eyes again towards them,
he saw that the fifth had disappeared in the
same manner as the preceeding two, without
the least distinguishable alteration of external
(illegible text) The remaining four looked as
(illegible text) and when, at last, enfeebled