Latest / The Monster and Other Stories / Manacled

Transcript

Manacled · The Monster and Other Stories

• 0:01
  Section six of The Monster and Other Stories by Stephen Crane. The Clebrivox recordings
• 0:06
  in the public domain, read by Mintucker manacled In the first act, there
• 0:13
  had been a farm scene wherein real horses had drunk real water out of real
• 0:17
  buckets, afterwards dragging a real wagon off stage l The audience was consumed with
• 0:23
  admiration of this play, and the great theater Nuveaux rang to its roof,
• 0:27
  where the crowd's plauded. The second act was now well advanced. The hero,
• 0:32
  cruelly victimized by his enemies, stood in prison garb, panting with rage,
• 0:36
  while two brutal warders fastened real handcuffs on his wrists and real inklets on
• 0:41
  his ankles, and the hovering villain sneered tis well. Aubrey Pettingill said the
• 0:47
  prisoner, you have so far succeeded, but mark you, there will come
• 0:51
  a time. The villain retorted, with a cutting allusion to the young lady
• 0:55
  whom the hero loved. Curse you, cried the hero, and he made
• 0:59
  as if to spring upon this demon, But as the pitying audience saw,
• 1:03
  he could only take steps four inches long, drowning. The mocking laughter of
• 1:07
  the villain. Came cries from both the audience and the people back of the
• 1:10
  wings. Fire fire fire throughout the great house resounded the roaring crashes of a
• 1:15
  throng of human beings moving in terror, And even above this noise could be
• 1:19
  heard the screams of women, more shrill than whistles. The building hummed and
• 1:23
  shook. It was like a glade which holds some bellowing cataract of the mountains.
• 1:29
  Most of the people who were killed on the stairs still clutched their playbills
• 1:33
  in their hands, as if they had resolved to save them at all costs.
• 1:37
  The Theater Nouveaux fronted upon a street which was not of the first importance,
• 1:41
  especially at night, when it only aroused when the people came to the
• 1:45
  theater, and aroused again when they came out to go home. On the
• 1:48
  night of the fire, at the time of the scene between the enchained hero
• 1:52
  and his tormentor, the thoroughfare echoed with only the scraping shovels of some street
• 1:56
  cleaners who were loading carts with blackened snow and mud. The gleam of lights
• 2:00
  made the shadowed pavement deeply blue, save where it lay some yellow plum like
• 2:05
  reflection. Suddenly a policeman came, running frantically along the street. He charged
• 2:10
  upon the fire box on a corner. Its red light touched with flame each
• 2:14
  of his brass buttons and the municipal shield. He pressed a lever. He
• 2:19
  had been standing in the entrance of the theater, chatting to the lonely man
• 2:22
  in the box office. Descend an alarm was a matter of seconds. Out
• 2:25
  of the theater poured the first hundreds of fortunate ones, and some were not
• 2:29
  altogether fortunate. Women, their bonnets flying, cried out tender names. Men
• 2:34
  white as death, scratched and bleeding, looked wildly from face to face.
• 2:38
  There were displays of horrible blind brutality by the strong. Weaker men clutched and
• 2:44
  clawed like cats. From the theater itself came the howl of a gale.
• 2:47
  The policeman's fingers had flashed into instant life and action, the most perfect counter
• 2:52
  attack to the fire. He listened for some seconds, and presently he heard
• 2:55
  the thunder of a charging engine. She swept around a corner, her three
• 3:00
  shining and thrilled horses leaping her consort. The horse cart roared behind her.
• 3:06
  There were the loud clicks of the steel, shod hoofs, horse shouts,
• 3:09
  men running, the flash of lights, while the crevice like streets resounded with
• 3:14
  the charges of other engines. At the first cry of fire, the two
• 3:19
  brutal warders had dropped the arms of the hero and run off the stage with
• 3:22
  the villain. The hero cried after them angrily, where are you going here?
• 3:25
  Pete Tom, you've left me chained up, Damn you. The body
• 3:30
  of the theater now resembled a mad surf amid rocks, but the hero did
• 3:34
  not look at it. He was filled with fury at the stupidity of the
• 3:38
  two brutal warders in forgetting that they were leaving him. Manacled, calling loudly.
• 3:42
  He hobbled off stage, l taking steps four inches long. Behind the
• 3:46
  scenes, he heard the hum of flames. Smoke filled with sparks sweeping on
• 3:52
  spiral courses rolled thickly upon him. Suddenly, his face turned chalk color beneath
• 3:55
  his skin of manly bronze for the stage. His voice shrieked, Beat Tom,
• 4:01
  damn you come back. You've let me chained up. He had played
• 4:05
  in this theater for seven years and could find his way without light through the
• 4:09
  intricate passages which mazed out behind the stage. He knew that it was a
• 4:13
  long way to the street door. The heat was intense. From time to
• 4:16
  time masses of flaming wood sung down from above him. He began to jump.
• 4:20
  Each jump advanced him about three feet, but the effort soon became heart
• 4:25
  breaking. Once he fell, and it took time to get upon his feet
• 4:28
  again. There were stairs to descend from the top of this flight. He
• 4:32
  tried to fall feet first. He precipitated himself in a way that would have
• 4:35
  broken his hip under common conditions, but every step seemed covered with glue,
• 4:41
  and on almost every one he stuck for a moment. He could not even
• 4:44
  succeed in falling down stairs. Ultimately he reached the bottom, windless from the
• 4:47
  struggle. There were stairs to climb. At the foot of the flight.
• 4:53
  He lay for an instant with his mouth closed to the floor, trying to
• 4:55
  breathe. Then he tried to scale this frightful precipice up the face of which
• 4:59
  many an act actress had gone at a canter. Each succeeding step arose eight
• 5:02
  inches from its fellow. The hero dropped to a seat on the third step,
• 5:06
  and pulled his feet to the second step. From this position, he
• 5:10
  lifted himself to a seat on the fourth step. He had not gone far
• 5:14
  in this manner before his frenzy caused him to lose his balance, and he
• 5:16
  rolled to the foot of the flight. After all he could fall downstairs.
• 5:20
  He lay there, whispering. They all got out, but I all but
• 5:25
  ay. Beautiful flames flashed above him. Some were crimson, some were orange,
• 5:30
  and here and there were tongues of purple, blue, green. A
• 5:34
  curiously calm thought came into his head. What a fool I was not to
• 5:40
  foresee this. I shall have Roger's furnished manacles of paper machet tomorrow. The
• 5:46
  thunder of the fire lions made the theater have a palsy. Suddenly the hero
• 5:49
  beat his handcuffs against the wall, cursing them in a loud wail. Blood
• 5:55
  started from under his finger nails. Soon he began to bite the hot steel,
• 5:59
  and blood fell from his blistered mouth. He raved like a wolf.
• 6:02
  Peace came to him again. There were charming effects amid the flames. He
• 6:08
  felt very cool, delightfully cool. They've left me chained up end of section seven manacled