d chained me to my seat by the
miserable criminal, whose state was becoming every minute more dreadful
and extraordinary.

* * * * *

Exhausted by the wearing excitement and anxiety of my situation, I had for
a moment sunk into that confused absence of mind with which those who have
been in similar circumstances cannot be unacquainted, when my miserable
companion, with a convulsive shudder, grasped my arm suddenly. I was for a
few seconds unaware of the cause of this emotion and movement, when a low,
indistinct sound caught my ear. It was the rumbling of a cart, mingled
with two or three suppressed voices; and the cart appeared to be leaving
the gate of the dismal building in which we were. It rolled slowly and
heavily as if cumbrously laden, under the paved gateway; and after a few
minutes, all was silent. The agonized wretch understood its import better
than I did. A gust of the wildest despair came suddenly over him. He
clutched with his hands whatever met his grasp. His knees worked. His
frame became agitated with one continued movement, swaying backwards and
forwards, almost to falling;--and his inarticulate complaints became
terrific. I attempted to steady him by an exertion of strength--I spoke
kindly to him, but he writhed in my grasp like an adder, and as an adder
was deaf; grief and fear had horrible possession. Myself, almost in a
state of desperation--for the sight was pitiful. I at last endeavoured to
awe him into a momentary quiescence, and strongly bade him at last to _die
like a man_; but the word "Death" had to him only the effect it may be
supposed to have upon a mere animal nature and understanding--how could it
have any other? He tried to bear it, and could not, and uttering a stifled
noise, between a yell and a moan, he grasped his own neck; his face
assumed a dark red colour, and he fell into a state of stifled convulsion.

* * * * *

When despair had wrought with him, I lifted him with difficulty from the
floor on which he had fallen. His relaxed features had the hue of death,
and his parched lips, from a livid blue, became of an ashy whiteness. In
appearance he was dying; and in the agitation of the moment I poured a
considerable portion of the wine which had been left with us into a glass,
and, after wetting his temples, held it to his lips. He made an effort to
swallow, and again revived to consciousness; and holding the vessel fir