I then slept—and, upon awaking, I must have
      returned upon my steps—thus supposing the circuit nearly double
      what it actually was. My confusion of mind prevented me from
      observing that I began my tour with the wall to the left, and
      ended it with the wall to the right. I had been deceived, too, in respect to the shape of the
      enclosure. In feeling my way I had found many angles, and thus
      deduced an idea of great irregularity; so potent is the effect of
      total darkness upon one arousing from lethargy or sleep! The
      angles were simply those of a few slight depressions, or niches,
      at odd intervals. The general shape of the prison was square. What I had taken for masonry seemed now to be iron, or some other
      metal, in huge plates, whose sutures or joints occasioned the
      depression. The entire surface of this metallic enclosure was
      rudely daubed in all the hideous and repulsive devices to which
      the charnel superstition of the monks has given rise. The figures
      of fiends in aspects of menace, with skeleton forms, and other
      more really fearful images, overspread and disfigured the walls. I observed that the outlines of these monstrosities were
      sufficiently distinct, but that the colors seemed faded and
      blurred, as if from the effects of a damp atmosphere. I now
      noticed the floor, too, which was of stone. In the centre yawned
      the circular pit from whose jaws I had escaped; but it was the
      only one in the dungeon. All this I saw indistinctly and by much effort—for my personal
      condition had been greatly changed during slumber. I now lay upon
      my back, and at full length, on a species of low framework of
      wood. To this I was securely bound by a long strap resembling a
      surcingle. It passed in many convolutions about my limbs and
      body, leaving at liberty only my head, and my left arm to such
      extent that I could, by dint of much exertion, supply myself with
      food from an earthen dish which lay by my side on the floor. I
      saw, to my horror, that the pitcher had been removed. I say to my
      horror—for I was consumed with intolerable thirst. This thirst it
      appeared to be the design of my persecutors to stimulate—for the
      food in the dish was meat pungently seasoned. Looking upward, I surveyed the ceiling of my prison. It was some
      thirty or forty feet overhead, and constructed much as the side
      walls. In one of its panels a very singular figure riveted my
      whole attention. It was the painted figure of Time as he is
      commonly represented, save that, in lieu of a scythe, he held
      what, at a casual glance, I supposed to be the pictured image of
      a huge pendulum such as we see on antique clocks. There was
      something, however, in the appearance of this machine which
      caused me to regard it more attentively. While I gazed directly
      upward at it (for its position was immediately over my own) I
      fancied that I saw it in motion. In an instant afterward the
      fancy was confirmed. Its sweep was brief, and of course slow. I
      watched it for some minutes, somewhat in fear, but more in
      wonder. Wearied at length with observing its dull movement, I
      turned my eyes upon the other objects in the cell. A slight noise attracted my notice, and, looking to the floor, I
      saw several enormous rats traversing it. They had issued from the
      well, which lay just within view to my right. Even then, while I
      gazed, they came up in troops, hurriedly, with ravenous eyes,
      allured by the scent of the meat. From this it required much
      effort and attention to scare them away. It might have been half an hour, perhaps even an hour, (for I
      could take but imperfect note of time) before I again cast my
      eyes upward. What I then saw confounded and amazed me. The sweep
      of the pendulum had increased in extent by nearly a yard. As a
      natural consequence, its velocity was also much greater. But what
      mainly disturbed me was the idea that had perceptibly descended. I now observed—with what horror it is needless to say—that its
      nether extremity was formed of a crescent of glittering steel,
      about a foot in length from horn to horn; the horns upward, and
      the under edge evidently as keen as that of a razor. Like a razor
      also, it seemed massy and heavy, tapering from the edge into a
      solid and broad structure above. It was appended to a weighty rod
      of brass, and the whole hissed as it swung through the air. I could no longer doubt the doom prepared for me by monkish
      ingenuity in torture. My cognizance of the pit had become known
      to the inquisitorial agents—_the pit_, whose horrors had been
      destined for so bold a recusant as myself—the pit, typical of
      hell, and regarded by rumor as the Ultima Thule of all their
      punishments. The plunge into this pit I had avoided by the merest
      of accidents, I knew that surprise, or entrapment into torment,
      formed an important portion of all the grotesquerie of these
      dungeon deaths. Having failed to fall, it was no part of the
      demon plan to hurl me into the abyss; and thus (there being no
      alternative) a different and a milder destruction awaited me. Milder! I half smiled in my agony as I thought of such
      application of such a term. What boots it to tell of the long, long hours of horror more than
      mortal, during which I counted the rushing vibrations of the
      steel! Inch by inch—line by line—with a descent only appreciable
      at intervals that seemed ages—down and still down it came! Days
      passed—it might have been that many days passed—ere it swept so
      closely over me as to fan me with its acrid breath. The odor of
      the sharp steel forced itself into my nostrils. I prayed—I
      wearied heaven with my prayer for its more speedy descent. I grew
      frantically mad, and struggled to force myself upward against the
      sweep of the fearful scimitar. And then I fell suddenly calm, and
      lay smiling at the glittering death, as a child at some rare
      bauble. There was another interval of utter insensibility; it was brief;
      for, upon again lapsing into life there had been no perceptible
      descent in the pendulum. But it might have been long; for I knew
      there were demons who took note of my swoon, and who could have
      arrested the vibration at pleasure. Upon my recovery, too, I felt
      very—oh! inexpressibly—sick and weak, as if through long
      inanition. Even amid the agonies of that period, the human nature
      craved food. With painful effort I outstretched my left arm as
      far as my bonds permitted, and took possession of the small
      remnant which had been spared me by the rats.