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+ <head>
+ <title>
+ The Damned Thing, by Ambrose Bierce
+ </title>
+ <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
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+ P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
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+ .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+ .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
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+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Damned Thing, by Ambrose Bierce
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Damned Thing
+ 1898, From "In the Midst of Life"
+
+Author: Ambrose Bierce
+
+Release Date: October 24, 2007 [EBook #23172]
+Last Updated: January 9, 2013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAMNED THING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+ <div style="height: 8em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h1>
+ THE DAMNED THING
+ </h1>
+ <h3>
+ By Ambrose Bierce <br /><br /> Reprinted by permission. From "In the Midst
+ of Life," <br /><br /><br /> Copyright, 1898, by G. P. Putnam's Sons <br />
+ <br />
+ </h3>
+ <hr />
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ Contents
+ </h2>
+ <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto">
+ <tr>
+ <td>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> I </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> II </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> III </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> IV </a>
+ </p>
+ </td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <hr />
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ I
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ By THE light of a tallow candle, which had been placed on one end of a
+ rough table, a man was reading something written in a book. It was an old
+ account book, greatly worn; and the writing was not, apparently, very
+ legible, for the man sometimes held the page close to the flame of the
+ candle to get a stronger light upon it. The shadow of the book would then
+ throw into obscurity a half of the room, darkening a number of faces and
+ figures; for besides the reader, eight other men were present. Seven of
+ them sat against the rough log walls, silent and motionless, and, the room
+ being small, not very far from the table. By extending an arm any one of
+ them could have touched the eighth man, who lay on the table, face upward,
+ partly covered by a sheet, his arms at his sides. He was dead.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The man with the book was not reading aloud, and no one spoke; all seemed
+ to be waiting for something to occur; the dead man only was without
+ expectation. From the blank darkness outside came in, through the aperture
+ that served for a window, all the ever unfamiliar noises of night in the
+ wilderness&mdash;the long, nameless note of a distant coyote; the stilly
+ pulsing thrill of tireless insects in trees; strange cries of night birds,
+ so different from those of the birds of day; the drone of great blundering
+ beetles, and all that mysterious chorus of small sounds that seem always
+ to have been but half heard when they have suddenly ceased, as if
+ conscious of an indiscretion. But nothing of all this was noted in that
+ company; its members were not overmuch addicted to idle interest in
+ matters of no practical importance; that was obvious in every line of
+ their rugged faces&mdash;obvious even in the dim light of the single
+ candle. They were evidently men of the vicinity&mdash;farmers and woodmen.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The person reading was a trifle different; one would have said of him that
+ he was of the world, worldly, albeit there was that in his attire which
+ attested a certain fellowship with the organisms of his environment. His
+ coat would hardly have passed muster in San Francisco: his footgear was
+ not of urban origin, and the hat that lay by him on the floor (he was the
+ only one uncovered) was such that if one had considered it as an article
+ of mere personal adornment he would have missed its meaning. In
+ countenance the man was rather prepossessing, with just a hint of
+ sternness; though that he may have assumed or cultivated, as appropriate
+ to one in authority. For he was a coroner. It was by virtue of his office
+ that he had possession of the book in which he was reading; it had been
+ found among the dead man's effects&mdash;in his cabin, where the inquest
+ was now taking place.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When the coroner had finished reading he put the book into his breast
+ pocket. At that moment the door was pushed open and a young man entered.
+ He, clearly, was not of mountain birth and breeding: he was clad as those
+ who dwell in cities. His clothing was dusty, however, as from travel. He
+ had, in fact, been riding hard to attend the inquest.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The coroner nodded; no one else greeted him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We have waited for you," said the coroner. "It is necessary to have done
+ with this business to-night."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The young man smiled. "I am sorry to have kept you," he said. "I went
+ away, not to evade your summons, but to post to my newspaper an account of
+ what I suppose I am called back to relate."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The coroner smiled.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The account that you posted to your newspaper," he said, "differs
+ probably from that which you will give here under oath."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That," replied the other, rather hotly and with a visible flush, "is as
+ you choose. I used manifold paper and have a copy of what I sent. It was
+ not written as news, for it is incredible, but as fiction. It may go as a
+ part of my testimony under oath."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But you say it is incredible."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "That is nothing to you, sir, if I also swear that it is true."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The coroner was apparently not greatly affected by the young man's
+ manifest resentment. He was silent for some moments, his eyes upon the
+ floor. The men about the sides of the cabin talked in whispers, but seldom
+ withdrew their gaze from the face of the corpse. Presently the coroner
+ lifted his eyes and said: "We will resume the inquest."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The men removed their hats. The witness was sworn.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "What is your name?" the coroner asked.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "William Harker."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Age?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Twenty-seven."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "You knew the deceased, Hugh Morgan?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Yes."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "You were with him when he died?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Near him."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "How did that happen&mdash;your presence, I mean?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I was visiting him at this place to shoot and fish. A part of my purpose,
+ however, was to study him, and his odd, solitary way of life. He seemed a
+ good model for a character in fiction. I sometimes write stories."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I sometimes read them."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Thank you."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Stories in general&mdash;not yours."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Some of the jurors laughed. Against a sombre background humor shows high
+ lights. Soldiers in the intervals of battle laugh easily, and a jest in
+ the death chamber conquers by surprise.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Relate the circumstances of this man's death," said the coroner. "You may
+ use any notes or memoranda that you please."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The witness understood. Pulling a manuscript from his breast pocket he
+ held it near the candle, and turning the leaves until he found the passage
+ that he wanted, began to read.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ II
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ "...The sun had hardly risen when we left the house. We were looking for
+ quail, each with a shotgun, but we had only one dog. Morgan said that our
+ best ground was beyond a certain ridge that he pointed out, and we crossed
+ it by a trail through the <i>chaparral</i>. On the other side was
+ comparatively level ground, thickly covered with wild oats. As we emerged
+ from the <i>chaparral</i>, Morgan was but a few yards in advance.
+ Suddenly, we heard, at a little distance to our right, and partly in
+ front, a noise as of some animal thrashing about in the bushes, which we
+ could see were violently agitated.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'We've started a deer,' said. 'I wish we had brought a rifle.'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Morgan, who had stopped and was intently watching the agitated chaparral,
+ said nothing, but had cocked both barrels of his gun, and was holding it
+ in readiness to aim. I thought him a trifle excited, which surprised me,
+ for he had a reputation for exceptional coolness, even in moments of
+ sudden and imminent peril.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'O, come!' I said. 'You are not going to fill up a deer with quail-shot,
+ are you?'
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Still he did not reply; but, catching a sight of his face as he turned it
+ slightly toward me, I was struck by the pallor of it. Then I understood
+ that we had serious business on hand, and my first conjecture was that we
+ had 'jumped' a grizzly. I advanced to Morgan's side, cocking my piece as I
+ moved.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The bushes were now quiet, and the sounds had ceased, but Morgan was as
+ attentive to the place as before.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'What is it? What the devil is it?' I asked.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "'That Damned Thing!' he replied, without turning his head. His voice was
+ husky and unnatural. He trembled visibly.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I was about to speak further, when I observed the wild oats near the
+ place of the disturbance moving in the most inexplicable way. I can hardly
+ describe it. It seemed as if stirred by a streak of wind, which not only
+ bent it, but pressed it down&mdash;crushed it so that it did not rise, and
+ this movement was slowly prolonging itself directly toward us.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Nothing that I had ever seen had affected me so strangely as this
+ unfamiliar and unaccountable phenomenon, yet I am unable to recall any
+ sense of fear. I remember&mdash;and tell it here because, singularly
+ enough, I recollected it then&mdash;that once, in looking carelessly out
+ of an open window, I momentarily mistook a small tree close at hand for
+ one of a group of larger trees at a little distance away. It looked the
+ same size as the others, but, being more distinctly and sharply defined in
+ mass and detail, seemed out of harmony with them. It was a mere
+ falsification of the law of aerial perspective, but it startled, almost
+ terrified me. We so rely upon the orderly operation of familiar natural
+ laws that any seeming suspension of them is noted as a menace to our
+ safety, a warning of unthinkable calamity. So now the apparently causeless
+ movement of the herbage, and the slow, undeviating approach of the line of
+ disturbance were distinctly disquieting. My companion appeared actually
+ frightened, and I could hardly credit my senses when I saw him suddenly
+ throw his gun to his shoulders and fire both barrels at the agitated
+ grass! Before the smoke of the discharge had cleared away I heard a loud
+ savage cry&mdash;a scream like that of a wild animal&mdash;and, flinging
+ his gun upon the ground, Morgan sprang away and ran swiftly from the spot.
+ At the same instant I was thrown violently to the ground by the impact of
+ something unseen in the smoke&mdash;some soft, heavy substance that seemed
+ thrown against me with great force.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Before I could get upon my feet and recover my gun, which seemed to have
+ been struck from my hands, I heard Morgan crying out as if in mortal
+ agony, and mingling with his cries were such hoarse savage sounds as one
+ hears from fighting dogs. Inexpressibly terrified, I struggled to my feet
+ and looked in the direction of Morgan's retreat; and may heaven in mercy
+ spare me from another sight like that! At a distance of less than thirty
+ yards was my friend, down upon one knee, his head thrown back at a
+ frightful angle, hatless, his long hair in disorder and his whole body in
+ violent movement from side to side, backward and forward. His right arm
+ was lifted and seemed to lack the hand&mdash;at least, I could see none.
+ The other arm was invisible. At times, as my memory now reports this
+ extraordinary scene, I could discern but a part of his body; it was as if
+ he had been partly blotted out&mdash;I can not otherwise express it&mdash;then
+ a shifting of his position would bring it all into view again.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "All this must have occurred within a few seconds, yet in that time Morgan
+ assumed all the postures of a determined wrestler vanquished by superior
+ weight and strength. I saw nothing but him, and him not always distinctly.
+ During the entire incident his shouts and curses were heard, as if through
+ an enveloping uproar of such sounds of rage and fury as I had never heard
+ from the throat of man or brute!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "For a moment only I stood irresolute, then, throwing down my gun, I ran
+ forward to my friend's assistance. I had a vague belief that he was
+ suffering from a fit or some form of convulsion. Before I could reach his
+ side he was down and quiet. All sounds had ceased, but, with a feeling of
+ such terror as even these awful events had not inspired, I now saw the
+ same mysterious movement of the wild oats prolonging itself from the
+ trampled area about the prostrate man toward the edge of a wood. It was
+ only when it had reached the wood that I was able to withdraw my eyes and
+ look at my companion. He was dead."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ III
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ The coroner rose from his seat and stood beside the dead man. Lifting an
+ edge of the sheet he pulled it away, exposing the entire body, altogether
+ naked and showing in the candle light a clay-like yellow. It had, however,
+ broad maculations of bluish-black, obviously caused by extravasated blood
+ from contusions. The chest and sides looked as if they had been beaten
+ with a bludgeon. There were dreadful lacerations; the skin was torn in
+ strips and shreds.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The coroner moved round to the end of the table and undid a silk
+ handkerchief, which had been passed under the chin and knotted on the top
+ of the head. When the handkerchief was drawn away it exposed what had been
+ the throat. Some of the jurors who had risen to get a better view repented
+ their curiosity, and turned away their faces. Witness Harker went to the
+ open window and leaned out across the sill, faint and sick. Dropping the
+ handkerchief upon the dead man's neck, the coroner stepped to an angle of
+ the room, and from a pile of clothing produced one garment after another,
+ each of which he held up a moment for inspection. All were torn, and stiff
+ with blood. The jurors did not make a closer inspection. They seemed
+ rather uninterested. They had, in truth, seen all this before; the only
+ thing that was new to them being Harker's testimony.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Gentlemen," the coroner said, "we have no more evidence, I think. Your
+ duty has been already explained to you; if there is nothing you wish to
+ ask you may go outside and consider your verdict."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The foreman rose&mdash;a tall, bearded man of sixty, coarsely clad.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I should like to ask one question, Mr. Coroner," he said. "What asylum
+ did this yer last witness escape from?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Mr. Harker," said the coroner, gravely and tranquilly, "from what asylum
+ did you last escape?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Harker flushed crimson again, but said nothing, and the seven jurors rose
+ and solemnly filed out of the cabin.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "If you have done insulting me, sir," said Harker, as soon as he and the
+ officer were left alone with the dead man, "I suppose I am at liberty to
+ go?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Yes."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Harker started to leave, but paused, with his hand on the door latch. The
+ habit of his profession was strong in him&mdash;stronger than his sense of
+ personal dignity. He turned about and said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The book that you have there&mdash;I recognize it as Morgan's diary. You
+ seemed greatly interested in it; you read in it while I was testifying.
+ May I see it? The public would like&mdash;"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The book will cut no figure in this matter," replied the official,
+ slipping it into his coat pocket; "all the entries in it were made before
+ the writer's death."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ As Harker passed out of the house the jury reentered and stood about the
+ table on which the now covered corpse showed under the sheet with sharp
+ definition. The foreman seated himself near the candle, produced from his
+ breast pocket a pencil and scrap of paper, and wrote rather laboriously
+ the following verdict, which with various degrees of effort all signed:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "We, the jury, do find that the remains come to their death at the hands
+ of a mountain lion, but some of us thinks, all the same, they had fits."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ IV
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ In the diary of the late Hugh Morgan are certain interesting entries
+ having, possibly, a scientific value as suggestions. At the inquest upon
+ his body the book was not put in evidence; possibly the coroner thought it
+ not worth while to confuse the jury. The date of the first of the entries
+ mentioned can not be ascertained; the upper part of the leaf is torn away;
+ the part of the entry remaining is as follows:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "... would run in a half circle, keeping his head turned always toward the
+ centre and again he would stand still, barking furiously. At last he ran
+ away into the brush as fast as he could go. I thought at first that he had
+ gone mad, but on returning to the house found no other alteration in his
+ manner than what was obviously due to fear of punishment.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Can a dog see with his nose? Do odors impress some olfactory centre with
+ images of the thing emitting them? . . .
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Sept 2.&mdash;Looking at the stars last night as they rose above the
+ crest of the ridge east of the house, I observed them successively
+ disappear&mdash;from left to right. Each was eclipsed but an instant, and
+ only a few at the same time, but along the entire length of the ridge all
+ that were within a degree or two of the crest were blotted out. It was as
+ if something had passed along between me and them; but I could not see it,
+ and the stars were not thick enough to define its outline. Ugh! I don't
+ like this. . . ."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Several weeks' entries are missing, three leaves being torn from the book.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Sept. 27.&mdash;It has been about here again&mdash;I find evidences of
+ its presence every day. I watched again all of last night in the same
+ cover, gun in hand, double-charged with buckshot. In the morning the fresh
+ footprints were there, as before. Yet I would have sworn that I did not
+ sleep&mdash;indeed, I hardly sleep at all. It is terrible, insupportable!
+ If these amazing experiences are real I shall go mad; if they are fanciful
+ I am mad already.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Oct. 3.&mdash;I shall not go&mdash;it shall not drive me away. No, this
+ is <i>my</i> house, my land. God hates a coward....
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Oct. 5.&mdash;I can stand it no longer; I have invited Harker to pass a
+ few weeks with me&mdash;he has a level head. I can judge from his manner
+ if he thinks me mad.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Oct. 7.&mdash;I have the solution of the problem; it came to me last
+ night&mdash;suddenly, as by revelation. How simple&mdash;how terribly
+ simple!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "There are sounds that we can not hear. At either end of the scale are
+ notes that stir no chord of that imperfect instrument, the human ear. They
+ are too high or too grave. I have observed a flock of blackbirds occupying
+ an entire treetop&mdash;the tops of several trees&mdash;and all in full
+ song. Suddenly&mdash;in a moment&mdash;at absolutely the same instant&mdash;all
+ spring into the air and fly away. How? They could not all see one another&mdash;whole
+ treetops intervened. At no point could a leader have been visible to all.
+ There must have been a signal of warning or command, high and shrill above
+ the din, but by me unheard. I have observed, too, the same simultaneous
+ flight when all were silent, among not only blackbirds, but other birds&mdash;quail,
+ for example, widely separated by bushes&mdash;even on opposite sides of a
+ hill.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "It is known to seamen that a school of whales basking or sporting on the
+ surface of the ocean, miles apart, with the convexity of the earth between
+ them, will sometimes dive at the same instant&mdash;all gone out of sight
+ in a moment. The signal has been sounded&mdash;too grave for the ear of
+ the sailor at the masthead and his comrades on the deck&mdash;who
+ nevertheless feel its vibrations in the ship as the stones of a cathedral
+ are stirred by the bass of the organ.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "As with sounds, so with colors. At each end of the solar spectrum the
+ chemist can detect the presence of what are known as 'actinic' rays. They
+ represent colors&mdash;integral colors in the composition of light&mdash;which
+ we are unable to discern. The human eye is an imperfect instrument; its
+ range is but a few octaves of the real 'chromatic scale' I am not mad;
+ there are colors that we can not see.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "And, God help me! the Damned Thing is of such a color!"
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 6em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Damned Thing, by Ambrose Bierce
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAMNED THING ***
+
+***** This file should be named 23172-h.htm or 23172-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+ http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/1/7/23172/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
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+will be renamed.
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+</pre>
+ </body>
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