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A Tale of the Ragged Mountains by Edgar Allan Poe · Audiobooks & Scary Stories

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  Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy this reading, which comes from a
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  Speaker 1: work in the public domain, A Tale of the Ragged
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  Speaker 1: Mountains by Edgar Allan Poe. During the fall of the
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  Speaker 1: year eighteen twenty seven, while residing near Charlottesville, Virginia, I
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  Speaker 1: casually made the acquaintance of mister Augustus Bedlow. This young
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  Speaker 1: gentleman was remarkable in every respect, and excited in me
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  Speaker 1: a profound interest and curiosity. I found it impossible to
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  Speaker 1: comprehend him, either in his moral or his physical relations
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  Speaker 1: of his family. I could obtain no satisfactory account whence
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  Speaker 1: he came. I never ascertained even about his age. Although
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  Speaker 1: I call him a young gentleman, there was something which
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  Speaker 1: perplexed me in no little degree. He certainly seemed young,
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  Speaker 1: and he made a point of speaking about his youth.
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  Speaker 1: Yet there were moments when I should have had little
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  Speaker 1: trouble in imagining him a hundred years of age. But
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  Speaker 1: in no regard was he more peculiar than in his
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  Speaker 1: personal appearance. He was singularly tall and thin. He stooped much,
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  Speaker 1: His limbs were exceedingly long and emaciated. His forehead was
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  Speaker 1: broad and low. His complexion was absolutely bloodless, his mouth
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  Speaker 1: was large and flexible, and his teeth were more wildly uneven,
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  Speaker 1: although sound, than I had ever before seen teeth in
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  Speaker 1: a human head. The expression of his smile, however, was
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  Speaker 1: by no means unpleasing, as might be supposed, but it
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  Speaker 1: had no variation whatever. It was one of profound melancholy,
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  Speaker 1: of a phaseless and unceasing gloom. His eyes were abnormally
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  Speaker 1: large and round, like those of a cat. The pupils, too,
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  Speaker 1: upon any accession or diminution of light, underwent contraction or dilation,
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  Speaker 1: just such as is observed in the feline tribe. In
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  Speaker 1: moments of excitement, the orbs grew bright to a degree
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  Speaker 1: almost inconceivable, seeming to emit luminous rays, not of a
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  Speaker 1: reflected but of an intrinsic luster, as does a candle
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  Speaker 1: or the sun. Yet their ordinary condition was so totally vapid, filmy,
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  Speaker 1: and dull as to convey the idea of the eyes
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  Speaker 1: of a long interred corpse. These peculiarities of person appeared
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  Speaker 1: to cause him much annoyance, and he was continually alluding
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  Speaker 1: to them in a sort of half explanatory, half apologetic strain, which,
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  Speaker 1: when I first heard it, impressed me very painfully. I soon, however,
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  Speaker 1: grew accustomed to it, and my uneasiness wore off. It
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  Speaker 1: seemed to be his design rather to insinuate than directly
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  Speaker 1: to assert that physically he had not always been what
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  Speaker 1: he was, that a long series of neurolgic attacks had
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  Speaker 1: reduced him from a condition of more than usual personal
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  Speaker 1: beauty to that which I saw. For many years past.
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  Speaker 1: He had been attended by a physician named Templeton, an
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  Speaker 1: old gentleman perhaps seventy years of age, whom he had
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  Speaker 1: first encountered at Saratoga, and from whose attention while there
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  Speaker 1: he either received or fancied that he received great benefit.
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  Speaker 1: The result was that Bedloe, who was wealthy, had made
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  Speaker 1: an arrangement with doctor Templeton, by which the latter, in
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  Speaker 1: consideration of a liberal annual allowance, had consented to devote
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  Speaker 1: his time and medical experience exclusively to the care of
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  Speaker 1: the invalid. Doctor Templeton had been a traveler in his
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  Speaker 1: younger days, and at Paris had become a convert in
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  Speaker 1: great measure to the doctrines of Mesmer. It was altogether
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  Speaker 1: by means of magnetic remedies that he had succeeded in
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  Speaker 1: alleviating the acute pains of his patient, and this success
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  Speaker 1: had very naturally inspired the latter with a certain degree
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  Speaker 1: of confidence in the opinions from which the remedies had
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  Speaker 1: been educed. The doctor, however, like all enthusiasts, had struggled
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  Speaker 1: hard to make a thorough convert of his pupil, and
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  Speaker 1: finally so far gained his point as to induce the
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  Speaker 1: suffer to submit to numerous experiments. By a frequent repetition
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  Speaker 1: of these, a result had arisen, which of late days
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  Speaker 1: has become so common as to attract little or no attention,
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  Speaker 1: but which at the period of which I write had
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  Speaker 1: very rarely been known in America. Mean to say that
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  Speaker 1: between doctor Templeton and Bedloe there had grown up, little
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  Speaker 1: by little, a very distinct and strongly marked roppore or
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  Speaker 1: magnetic relation. I am not prepared to assert, however, that
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  Speaker 1: this raport extended beyond the limits of the simple sleep
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  Speaker 1: producing power. But this power itself had attained great intensity.
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  Speaker 1: At the first attempt to induce the magnetic somnolency, the
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  Speaker 1: Mesmerist entirely failed. In the fifth or sixth he succeeded
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  Speaker 1: very partially, and after long continued effort. Only at the
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  Speaker 1: twelfth was the triumph complete. After this the will of
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  Speaker 1: the patient succumbed rapidly to that of the physician, so
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  Speaker 1: that when I first became acquainted with the two, sleep
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  Speaker 1: was brought about almost instantaneously by the mere volition of
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  Speaker 1: the operator, even when the invalid was unaware of his presence.
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  Speaker 1: It is only now, in the year eighteen forty five,
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  Speaker 1: when similar miracles are witnessed daily by thousands, that I
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  Speaker 1: dare venture to record this apparent impossibility as a matter
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  Speaker 1: of serious fact. The temperature of Bedloe was in the
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  Speaker 1: highest degree sensitive, excitable, enthusiastic. His imagination was singularly vigorous
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  Speaker 1: and creative, and no doubt it derived additional force from
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  Speaker 1: the habitual use of morphine, which he swallowed in great quantity,
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  Speaker 1: and without which he would have found it impossible to exist.
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  Speaker 1: It was his practice to take a very large dose
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  Speaker 1: of it immediately after breakfast each morning, or rather immediately
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  Speaker 1: after a cup of strong coffee, for he ate nothing
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  Speaker 1: in the forenoon, and then set forth alone or attended
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  Speaker 1: only by a dog, upon a long ramble among the
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  Speaker 1: chain of wild and dreary hills that lie westward and
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  Speaker 1: southward of Charlottesville, and are there dignified by the title
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  Speaker 1: of the Ragged Mountains. Upon a dim, warm, misty day
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  Speaker 1: toward the close of November, and during the strange interregnum
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  Speaker 1: of the seasons which in America is termed the Indian summer,
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  Speaker 1: mister Bedloe departed as usual for the hills. The day passed,
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  Speaker 1: and still he did not return. About eight o'clock at night.
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  Speaker 1: Having become seriously alarmed at his protracted absence, we were
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  Speaker 1: about setting out in search of him when he unexpectedly
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  Speaker 1: made his appearance, in health no worse than usual, and
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  Speaker 1: in rather more than ordinary spirits. The account which he
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  Speaker 1: gave of his expedition and of the events which had
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  Speaker 1: detained him, was a singular one. Indeed, you will remember,
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  Speaker 1: said he that it was about nine in the morning
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  Speaker 1: when I left Charlottesville. I bent my steps immediately to
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  Speaker 1: the mountains, and about ten entered a gorge which was
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  Speaker 1: entirely new to me. I followed the windings of this
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  Speaker 1: pass with much interest. The scenery, which presented itself on
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  Speaker 1: all sides, although scarcely entitled to be called grand, had
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  Speaker 1: about it an indescribable and to me a delicious aspect
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  Speaker 1: of dreary desolation. The solitude seemed absolutely virgin. I could
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  Speaker 1: not help believing that the green sods and the gray
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  Speaker 1: rocks upon which I trod had been trodden never before
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  Speaker 1: by the foot of a human being. So entirely secluded
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  Speaker 1: and in act inaccessible except through a series of accidents
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  Speaker 1: is the entrance of the ravine that it is by
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  Speaker 1: no means impossible that I was indeed the first adventure,
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  Speaker 1: the very first and sole adventure, who had ever penetrated
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  Speaker 1: its recesses. The thick and peculiar mist or smoke, which
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  Speaker 1: distinguishes the Indian summer, and which now hung heavily over
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  Speaker 1: all objects, served no doubt to deepen the vague impressions
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  Speaker 1: which these objects created. So dense was this pleasant fog
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  Speaker 1: that I could at no time see more than a
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  Speaker 1: dozen yards of the path before me. This path was
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  Speaker 1: excessively sinuous, and as the sun could not be seen,
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  Speaker 1: I soon lost all idea of the direction in which
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  Speaker 1: I journeyed. In the meantime, the morphine had its customary
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  Speaker 1: effect that of endoing all the external world with an
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  Speaker 1: intensity of interest. In the quivering of a leaf in
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  Speaker 1: the hue of a blade of grass, in the shape
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  Speaker 1: of a tree foil, in the humming of a bee,
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  Speaker 1: in the gleaming of a dew drop, in the breathing
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  Speaker 1: of the wind, in the faint odours that came from
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  Speaker 1: the forest. There came a whole universe of suggestion, a
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  Speaker 1: gay and motley train of rhapsodical and immethodical thought. Busied
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  Speaker 1: in this I walked on for several hours, during which
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  Speaker 1: the mist deepened around me to so great an extent
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  Speaker 1: that at length I was reduced to an absolute groping
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  Speaker 1: of the way. And now an indescribable uneasiness possessed me,
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  Speaker 1: a species of nervous hesitation and tremor. I feared to
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  Speaker 1: tread lest I should be precipitated into some abyss. I
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  Speaker 1: remembered two strange stories told about these ragged hills, and
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  Speaker 1: of the uncouth and fierce races of men who tenanted
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  Speaker 1: their groves and caverns. A thousand vague fancies oppressed and
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  Speaker 1: disconcerted me, fancies the more distressing because vague, very suddenly
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  Speaker 1: my attention was arrested by the loud beating of a drum.
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  Speaker 1: My amazement was, of course extreme. A drum in these
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  Speaker 1: hills was a thing unknown. I could not have been
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  Speaker 1: more surprised at the sound of the trump of the archangel.
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  Speaker 1: But an a new and still more astounding source of
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  Speaker 1: interest and perplexity arose. There came a wild rattling or
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  Speaker 1: jingling sound, as if of a bunch of large keys,
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  Speaker 1: and upon the instant, a dusky, visaged and half naked
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  Speaker 1: man rushed past me with a shriek. He came so
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  Speaker 1: close to my person that I felt his hot breath
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  Speaker 1: upon my face. He bore in one hand an instrument
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  Speaker 1: composed of an assemblage of steel rings, and shook them
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  Speaker 1: vigorously as he ran. Scarcely had he disappeared in the mist,
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  Speaker 1: before panting after him with open mouth and glaring eyes,
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  Speaker 1: there darted a huge beast. I could not be mistaken
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  Speaker 1: in its character. It was a Hyaena. The sight of
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  Speaker 1: this monster rather relieved than heightened my terrors, for I
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  Speaker 1: now made sure that I dreamed and endeavored to arouse
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  Speaker 1: myself to waking consciousness. I stepped boldly and briskly forward.
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  Speaker 1: I rubbed my eyes, I called aloud, I pinched my limbs.
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  Speaker 1: A small spring of water presented itself to my view,
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  Speaker 1: and here, stooping, I bathed my hands and my head
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  Speaker 1: and neck. This seemed to dissipate the equivocal sensations which
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  Speaker 1: had hitherto annoyed me. I arose, as I thought, a
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  Speaker 1: new man, and proceeded steadily and complacently on my unknown way.
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  Speaker 1: At length, quite overcome by exertion and by a certain
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  Speaker 1: oppressive closeness of the atmosphere, I seated myself beneath a tree.
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  Speaker 1: Presently there came a feeble gleam of sunshine, and the
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  Speaker 1: shadow of the leaves of the tree fell faintly but
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  Speaker 1: definitely upon the grass. At this shadow I gazed wonderingly
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  Speaker 1: for many minutes. Its character stupefied me with astonishment. I
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  Speaker 1: looked upward. The tree was a palm. I now arose
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  Speaker 1: hurriedly and in a state of fearful agitation, for the
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  Speaker 1: fancy that I dreamed would serve me no longer I saw.
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  Speaker 1: I felt that I had perfect command of my senses,
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  Speaker 1: and these senses now brought to my soul a world
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  Speaker 1: of novel and singular sensation. The heat became all at
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  Speaker 1: once intolerable. A strange odor loaded the breeze, A low,
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  Speaker 1: continuous murmur like that. Arising from a full but gently
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  Speaker 1: flowing river, came to my ears, intermingled with the peculiar
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  Speaker 1: hum of multitudinous human voices. While I listened in an
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  Speaker 1: extremity of astonishment which I need not attempt to describe,
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  Speaker 1: a strong and brief gust of wind bore off the
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  Speaker 1: incumbent fog, as if by the wand of an enchanter.
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  Speaker 1: I found myself at the foot of a high mountain,
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  Speaker 1: and looking down into a vast plain through which wound
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  Speaker 1: a majestic river. On the margin of this river stood
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  Speaker 1: an eastern looking city, such as we read of in
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  Speaker 1: the Arabian tales, but of a character even more singular
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  Speaker 1: than any there described. From my position, which was far
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  Speaker 1: above the level of the town, I could perceive its
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  Speaker 1: every nook and corner as if delineated on a map.
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  Speaker 1: The streets seemed innumerable and crossed each other irregularly in
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  Speaker 1: all directions, but were rather long, winding alleys than street beats,
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  Speaker 1: and absolutely swarmed with inhabitants. The houses were wildly picturesque.
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  Speaker 1: On every hand was a wilderness of balconies of verandas,
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  Speaker 1: of minarets of shrines, and fantastically carved orioles. Bazaars abounded,
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  Speaker 1: and in these were displayed rich wares in infinite variety
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  Speaker 1: and profusion, silks, muslins, the most dazzling cutlery, the most
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  Speaker 1: magnificent jewels and gems. Besides these things were seen on
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  Speaker 1: all sides, banners and palanquins, litters with stately dames, close
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  Speaker 1: veiled elephants, gorgeously caparisoned idols, grotesquely hewn drums, banners and gongs, spears,
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  Speaker 1: silver and gilded maces. And amid the crowd and the clamor,
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  Speaker 1: and the general intricacy and confusion, amid the million of
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  Speaker 1: black and yellow men, turbaned and robed, and of flowing beard,
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  Speaker 1: there roamed a countless multitude of wholly fileted bulls, while
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  Speaker 1: vast legions of the filthy but sacred ape clambered, chattered
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  Speaker 1: and shrieking about the cornices of the mosques, or clung
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  Speaker 1: to the minarets and orioles. From the swarming streets to
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  Speaker 1: the banks of the river, there descended innumerable flights of
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  Speaker 1: steps leading to bathing places, while the river itself seemed
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  Speaker 1: to force a passage with difficulty through the vast fleets
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  Speaker 1: of deeply burthened ships that far and wide encountered its surface.
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  Speaker 1: Beyond the limits of the city, arose in frequent majestic groups,
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  Speaker 1: the palm and the cocoa, with other gigantic and weird
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  Speaker 1: trees of vast age. And here and there might be
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  Speaker 1: seen a field of rice, the thatched hut of a peasant,
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  Speaker 1: a tank, a stray temple, a gypsy camp, or a solitary,
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  Speaker 1: graceful maiden taking her way with a pitcher upon her
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  Speaker 1: head to the banks of the magnificent river. You will say, now,
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  Speaker 1: of course, that I dreamed, but not so what I saw,
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  Speaker 1: what I heard, what I felt, what I thought had
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  Speaker 1: about it. Nothing of the unmistakable idiosyncrasy of the dream.
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  Speaker 1: All was rigorously self consistent. At first, doubting that I
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  Speaker 1: was really awake, I entered into a series of tests
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  Speaker 1: which soon convinced me that I really was. Now, when
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  Speaker 1: one dreams, and in the dream suspects that he dreams,
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  Speaker 1: the suspicion never fails to confirm itself, and the sleeper
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  Speaker 1: is almost immediately aroused. Thus novalisers not in saying that
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  Speaker 1: we are near waking when we dream that we dream.
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  Speaker 1: Had the vision occurred to me as I describe it,
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  Speaker 1: without my suspecting it as a dream, then a dream
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  Speaker 1: it might absolutely have been. But occurring as it did,
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  Speaker 1: and suspected and tested as it was, I am forced
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  Speaker 1: to class it among other phenomena. In this I am
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  Speaker 1: not sure that you are wrong, observed Doctor Templeton. But
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  Speaker 1: proceed you arose and descended into the city. I arose,
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  Speaker 1: continued Bedloe, regarding the doctor with an air of profound astonishment.
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  Speaker 1: I arose as you say, and descended into the city.
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  Speaker 1: On my way I fell in with an immense populace,
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  Speaker 1: crowding through every avenue, all in the same direction, and
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  Speaker 1: exhibiting in every action the wildest excitement. Very suddenly, and
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  Speaker 1: by some inconceivable impulse, I became intensely imbued with personal
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  Speaker 1: interest in what was going on. I seemed to feel
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  Speaker 1: that I had an important part to play, without exactly
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  Speaker 1: understanding what it was. Against the crowd which environed me, however,
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  Speaker 1: I experienced a deep sentiment of animosity. I shrank from
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  Speaker 1: amid them, and swiftly, by a circuitous path, reached and
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  Speaker 1: entered the city. Here all was the wildest tumult and contention.
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  Speaker 1: A small party of men clad in garments half Indian,
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  Speaker 1: half European, and officered by gentlemen in a uniform partly British,
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  Speaker 1: were engaged at great odds with the swarming rabble of
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  Speaker 1: the alleys. I joined the weaker party, arming myself with
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  Speaker 1: the weapons of a fallen officer, and fighting I knew
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  Speaker 1: not whom, with the nervous ferocity of despair. We were
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  Speaker 1: soon overpowered by numbers and driven to seek refuge in
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  Speaker 1: a species of kiosk. Here we barricaded ourselves, and for
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  Speaker 1: the present were secure. From a loophole near the summit
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  Speaker 1: of the kiosk, I perceived a vast crowd in furious agitation,
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  Speaker 1: surrounding and assaulting a gay palace that overhung the river. Presently,
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  Speaker 1: from an upper window of this place there descended an
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  Speaker 1: effeminine looking person, by means of a string made of
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  Speaker 1: the turbans of his attendants. A boat was at hand,
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  Speaker 1: in which he escaped to the opposite bank of the river.
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  Speaker 1: And now a new object took possession of my soul.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: I spoke a few hurried but energetic words to my companions, and,
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  Speaker 1: having succeeded in gaining over a few of them to
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  Speaker 1: my purpose, made a frantic sally from the kiosk. We
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: rushed amid the crowd that surrounded it. They retreated at
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  Speaker 1: first before us, they rallied, fought madly, and retreated again.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: In the meantime, we were born far from the kiosk,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: and became bewilder, and entangled among the narrow streets of tall,
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  Speaker 1: overhanging houses, into the recesses of which the sun had
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  Speaker 1: never been able to shine. The rabble pressed impetuously upon us,
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  Speaker 1: harassing us with their spears and overwhelming us with flights
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  Speaker 1: of arrows. These latter were very remarkable, and resembled in
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  Speaker 1: some respects the writhing crees of the Malay. They were
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  Speaker 1: made to imitate the body of a creeping serpent, and
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  Speaker 1: were long and black with a poisoned barb. One of
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  Speaker 1: them struck me upon the right temple. I reeled and fell.
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  Speaker 1: An instantaneous and dreadful sickness seized me. I struggled, I gasped,
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  Speaker 1: I died. You will hardly persist, now, said I, smiling,
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  Speaker 1: that the whole of your adventure was not a dream.
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  Speaker 1: You are not prepared to maintain that you are dead.
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  Speaker 1: When I said these words, I of course expected some
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  Speaker 1: lively sally from Bedloe in reply, But to my astonishment,
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  Speaker 1: he hesitated, trembled, became fearfully pallid, and remained silent. I
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  Speaker 1: looked toward Templeton. He sat erect and rigid in his chair.
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  Speaker 1: His teeth chattered, and his eyes were starting from their sockets. Proceed, he,
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  Speaker 1: at length said hoarsely to Bedloe. For many minutes continued
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  Speaker 1: the latter. My sole sentiment, My sole feeling, was that
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: of darkness and nonentity, with the consciousness of death. At
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  Speaker 1: length there seemed to pass a violent and sudden shock
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  Speaker 1: through my soul, as if of electricity. With it came
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  Speaker 1: the sense of elasticity and of light. This latter I
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  Speaker 1: felt not saw. In an instant, I seemed to rise
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  Speaker 1: from the ground, But I had no bodily, no visible, audible,
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  Speaker 1: or palpable presence. The crowd had departed, the tumult had ceased,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: the city was in comparative repose. Beneath me lay my corpse,
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  Speaker 1: with the arrow in my temple. The whole had greatly
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  Speaker 1: swollen and disfigured. But all these things I felt saw,
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  Speaker 1: I took interest in nothing. Even the corpse seemed a
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  Speaker 1: matter in which I had no concern volition. I had none,
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  Speaker 1: but appeared to be impelled into motion, and flitted buoyantly
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  Speaker 1: out of the city, retracing the circuitest path by which
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  Speaker 1: I had entered it. When I had attained that point
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  Speaker 1: of the ravine in the mountains at which I had
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: encountered the hyena, I again experienced a shock, as of
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: a galvanic battery. The sense of weight, of volition, of
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: substance returned. I became my original self and bent my
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: steps eagerly homeward. But the past had not lost the
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: vividness of the real. And not now even for an
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: instant can I compel my understanding to regard it as
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: a dream. Nor was it said Templeton with an air
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: of deep solemnity. Yet it would be difficult to say
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: how otherwise it should be termed. Let us suppose only
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: that the soul of the man of to day is
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: upon the verge of some stupendous cycle discoveries. Let us
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: content ourselves with this supposition for the rest I I
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: have some explanation to make. Here is a water color
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: drawing which I should have shown you before, but which
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: an unaccountable sentiment of horror has hitherto prevented me from showing.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: We looked at the picture which he presented. I saw
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: nothing in it of an extraordinary character, but its effect
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: upon Bedloe was prodigious. He nearly fainted as he gazed.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: And yet it was but a miniature portrait, a miraculously
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: accurate one, to be sure of his own very remarkable features.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: At least, this was my thought as I regarded it.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: You will perceive, said Templeton, the date of this picture.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: It is here scarcely visible in this corner, seventeen eighty.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: In this year was the portrait taken. It is the
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: likeness of a dead friend, a mister oldab to whom
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: I became much attached to Calcutta during the administration of
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Warren Hastings. I was then only twenty years old when
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: I first saw you, mister Bedloe, at Saratoga. It was
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: the miraculous similarity which existed between yourself and the painting,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: which induced me to accost you, to seek your friendship,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: and to bring about those arrangements which resulted in my
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: becoming your constant companion. In accomplishing this point, I was
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: urged partly and perhaps principally by a regretful memory of
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: the deceased, but also in part by an uneasy and
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: not altogether horrorless curiosity. Respecting yourself in your detail of
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: the vision which presented itself to you amid the hills,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: you have described with the minutest accuracy, the Indian city
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: of Benares upon the Holy River. The riots, the combat,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: the massacre were the actual events of the insurrection of
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: chate Singh, which took place in seventeen eighty when Hastings
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: was put in imminent peril of his life. The man
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: escaping by the string of turbans was chate sing himself.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: The party in the kiosk were Sepoys and British officers,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: headed by Hastings. Of this party, I was one and
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: did all I could to prevent the rash and fatal
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: sally of the officer who fell in the crowded alleys
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: by the poisoned arrow of a Bengali. That officer was
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: my dearest friend. It was old ev you will perceive
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: by these manuscripts. Here the speaker produced a note book
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: in which several pages appeared to have been freshly written,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: that at the very period in which you fancied these
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: things amid the hills. I was engaged in detailing them
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: upon paper here at home. In about a week after
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: this conversation, the following paragraphs appeared in a Charlottesville paper.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: We have the painful duty of announcing the death of
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: mister Augustus Bedloe, a gentleman whose amiable manners and many
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: virtues have long endeared him to the citizens of Charlottesville.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Mister b for some years past, has been subject to neuralgia,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: which has often threatened to terminate fatally, But this can
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: be regarded only as the mediate cause of his decease.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: The proximate cause was one of a special singularity. In
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: an excursion to the Ragged Mountains a few days since,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: a slight cold and fever were contracted, attended with great
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: determination of blood to the head. To relieve this, doctor
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Templeton resorted to topical bleeding. Leeches were applied to the
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: temples in a fearfully brief period. The patient died when
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: it appeared that in the jar containing the leeches had
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: been introduced by accident, one of the venomous vermicular sangsus,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: which are now and then found in the neighboring ponds.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: This creature fastened itself upon a small artery in the
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: right temple. Its close resemblance to the medicinal leech caused
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: the mistake to be overlooked until too late. N be dot.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: The poisonous sangsue of Charlottesville may always be distinguished from
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: the medicinal leech by its blackness, and especially by its
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: writhing or vermicular motions, which very nearly resemble those of
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: a snake. I was speaking with the editor of the
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: paper in question upon the topic of this remarkable accident
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: when it occurred to me to ask how it happened
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: that the name of the deceased had been given as Bedloe.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: I presume, I said, you have authority for this spelling,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: But I have always supposed a name to be written
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: with an E at the end. Authority, No, he replied,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: it is a mere typographical error. The name is Bedloe
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: with an E all the world over, and I never
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: knew it to be spelt otherwise in my life, then
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: said I mutteringly, as I turned upon my heel. Then
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: indeed has it come to pass that one truth is
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: stranger than any fiction? For Bedloe without the E, what
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: is it but oldeb conversed, and this man tells me
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: that it is a typographical error.