Chapter 16 Pit and Pendulum

The pit and the pendulum are right here, the greedy thugs dance, the hatred runs long, and the blood of the innocent bleeds; — Quatrains for the market gate built on the site of the Jacobin Club in ParisWhen they finally untied me and gave me a seat, I felt like my mind was leaving my body.The last sound that filled the eardrum clearly was a sentence—a terrible death sentence.Afterwards, the sounds of the interrogation seemed to fade into a muffled hum.It can't help but remind me of the concept of "rotation"—maybe I think of the sound of the waterwheel in a trance. The thought faded away in an instant, for soon I could hear nothing.But I can still see it for a while, but the exaggeration of what I see is really terrible!I saw the lips of the black-robed judge, the white lips, whiter than the paper on which I wrote these black words, and almost grotesquely thin; the words spoken by such thin lips are very important and cannot be changed, The torture of human beings is simply dismissive.I saw the sentence of my death, gurgling from those lips.I saw two lips closing and writhing, uttering the deadly words.I blurted out my name when I saw it stretch, shrink, grin, and grin.I trembled all over, because I saw my lips move, but I couldn't hear a sound.Although I was momentarily frightened and frightened until my mind became dizzy, I could still see the black veil wrapping the four walls quietly fluctuating, so slight that it was hard to detect.Then my eyes fell on the seven long candles on the table.At first glance, they are full of benevolence and slim, like white angels who can save me; but in a blink of an eye, I immediately feel extreme discomfort, trembling all over, as if I have touched a battery that is connected to an electric current.Looking at those candles that look like white angels, it seems that all of them are ghosts with flames on their heads, which has become meaningless.Suddenly, a thought like a graceful piece of music sneaked into my heart.I think it must be sweet to sleep forever.This idea came to me unconsciously, and it seemed that it took me a long time to gain my favor.But when I finally realized this and opened my heart to embrace it in due course, the judges disappeared from my sight as if by magic, and the candle flame was completely extinguished, and the long candle suddenly disappeared into nothing.Immediately it was pitch black all around.All senses escaped, only one idea, that is to fall rapidly, as if the soul was thrown into hell.There was silence all around.Everything froze.Night rules the universe.

I passed out.But it cannot be said that he lost all consciousness.As for what kind of consciousness is left, I am not going to explain in detail, nor do I want to describe it.But he didn't really lose all consciousness.In deep sleep - not so!In frenzy - not so!In a coma - not so!In death - not so!Even in the grave, it is not completely unconscious.Otherwise there would be no such thing as an immortal soul.When we wake up from a deep sleep, it is like breaking a thin silk screen like a dream.But in a blink of an eye, we don't remember that we had a dream.Probably because the silk screen is easy to break.Waking up from a coma involves two stages: the first is the psychological or spiritual recovery of consciousness, and the second is the physical awakening.If, in the second stage, the impressions of the first stage are recalled, we shall perhaps find them eloquent enough to bring to life the situation in the stupor.But what is a coma?How can we slightly distinguish the harbinger of coma from the harbinger of death?But if the impressions of the first stage which I speak of cannot be recalled at will, will they not come uninvited after some time has passed?And we can only wonder where it came from.He who has never been in a coma never sees strange and palaces and faces so familiar looming in the gleaming coals; Zaifu; will never ponder for a long time on the novel fragrance of flowers; never be distracted by the melody of music that I have never heard before.

I often think about various situations in the coma, trying to recall; I am often obsessed with reminiscence, reminiscing about the apparent emptiness I fell into when I was in a coma, struggling to capture the good fortune, and sometimes I think I remember it; For a moment, a brief moment, I conjured up the memory as if by magic, and then clear reason told me that the memory had nothing to do with the superficial unconscious.This vague memory shows that some tall figures lifted me up and pushed me silently down—down—and down—until my heart was filled with endless groaning. Shen Zhanman felt a terrible dizziness overwhelm him.This memory also shows that, because my mind was still like water at the time, I felt only a vague fear.Then, suddenly, everything seemed to stand still, as if the people who pushed me down—hordes of horrible things—were sinking, never ending, beyond a limit, exhausted, before stopping. Come down and rest for a while.Still later, I recall the flat, the wet, and the next thing it all went crazy—a madness of memories of rushing through restricted areas.

Suddenly, I regained the awareness of sound and movement in my soul—the heart was clattering, and my ears heard the sound of the heart beating violently.Then, there was a moment of stillness, and the mind went blank.Then, there was still sound, movement, and touch—a tingling sensation spread all over his body.Then there is no thought in the consciousness, only knowing that oneself exists.This situation lasted for a long time.And then, all of a sudden, the revived mind, the shuddering terror returned, and a vigorous effort to understand where we really were.After that, there is a strong desire to fall into a state of unconsciousness.The spirit is fully awake.I can move my hands and feet.Then came the memories, the courts, the judges, the black veils, the verdicts, the sicknesses, the comas; .

To this day, I have never opened my eyes.I felt like I was lying down, not tied down.I reached out and felt something very wet and hard, and I put my hand on it and endured it for a few minutes, wondering where I was and who I was.I really wanted to open my eyes and take a look, but I didn't dare.I am afraid of the surrounding environment that I will see at the first sight, not because I am afraid of seeing something terrible, but because I am afraid that I will not see anything when I open my eyes.I became more and more terrified. Finally, in a state of extreme desperation, I snapped my eyes open.Unsurprisingly, it sucks.The night is long, darkness surrounds me, and I struggle to breathe.The boundless darkness oppressed me and suffocated me.The air was stuffy and uncomfortable.Still lying still, I began to try my best to mobilize my reason.I recalled the scene of the interrogation and tried to deduce from that the real situation.The death sentence was announced.To me, that seems like a long, long time ago.After a while, however, I surmised that I was actually dead.Although we see many bizarre things in novels, this inference is completely contradicted by reality. — but where am I?What is my state?I know that those sentenced to death by the Inquisition are usually burned at the stake.On the night of my trial, such a sentence was executed once.Have I been escorted back to the dungeon, waiting to be burned at the stake again in a few months?I saw right away that this was impossible.Because the damned are always executed instantly.Besides, the dungeon I was in, like all the death cells in Toledo, had a stone floor, and it wasn't completely devoid of light.

Suddenly, a terrible thought flashed through.Immediately my blood rushed and my heart beat faster.For a moment, I lost consciousness again.As soon as I woke up, I jumped up, shaking convulsively.I stretched out my hands and touched up, down, left, and right in all directions, but I couldn't touch anything.But I still didn't dare to move an inch, for fear that the tomb wall would block my way.Every pore in my body was sweating, and my forehead was covered with bean-sized beads of sweat, which was icy cold.I was anxious and suffering, and finally I couldn't bear it anymore, so I moved forward cautiously.My hands are straight out in front of me.Trying to catch a faint light, my eyes widened again.I took a few steps forward.Still dark and empty.My breathing is easier.Apparently, fate wasn't that bad, at least I wasn't in the scariest cemetery.

As I was groping forward step by step, many ambiguous rumors about the city of Toledo came to my mind, including some strange things in the dungeon—I thought they were just nonsense—but they were strange after all. Weird and terrifying, people dare not talk about it publicly, only circulated in private.Are you going to lock me up in this dark underground and starve to death?Or is there a more terrible fate waiting for me?The result is always a death, and it will be more painful than others.I have no doubts of this, for I know the virtues of those judges too well.All that was on my mind, or rather disturbed me, was how and when to die.

My outstretched fingers finally touched some solid obstacle.is a wall.It seemed to be made of stone—bare, slimy, and cold.So I walked along the wall, taking every step carefully and full of vigilance.This is what some old stories have taught me.But I can't be sure of the size of the dungeon if I walk like this, because I'm probably going around in circles, and maybe I'm back to the original place without knowing it.The wall was the same everywhere, so I went looking for the pocket knife, which I remember was in my pocket when I was brought into court.But it's gone.My clothes have also been changed to coarse cloth robes.I had thought of sticking my knife into some crevice in the stone wall to determine where I started.Although in the ecstasy the difficulty seemed at first insurmountable, it was in reality no more than a trifle.I tore a strand from the edge of the robe and spread it flat on the floor at right angles to the wall.

In this way, when groping around the dungeon, if you make a circle, it is impossible not to step on the cloth.But I didn't take into account the size of the dungeon, nor did I fully estimate my own weakness.The ground was wet and slippery. I staggered forward for a while, then staggered and fell.I was so tired that I just lay down on the ground and didn't want to get up.Soon, drowsiness hit uncontrollably. When I woke up, I stretched out an arm, and I found that beside me was a loaf of bread and a jug of water.I was so exhausted that I ate and drank greedily without thinking about what was going on.Soon, I started my trip to the dungeon again.After a lot of hard work, I walked to the place where the cloth strips were placed.Before I fell down, I counted fifty-two steps, and after getting up again, I walked forty-eight steps before reaching the cloth strip.In this way, a total of one hundred steps.Two steps is a yard, so I figured the circumference of the dungeon was fifty yards.But as I groped my way, I encountered many corners, so I could not deduce the shape of this cellar.Yes, I think it's a cellar.

There was little purpose in this inquiry--certainly not any hope, but a vague curiosity. Instead of walking along the walls, I decided to traverse the center of the dungeon.At first I was extremely careful with every step I took, because the ground, although it seemed solid, was very slippery.In the end, I mustered up my courage, no longer hesitated, and my steps were much firmer.I want to get to the opposite side as straight as possible.I walked about eleven or twelve steps like this, and the torn edge of the robe was entangled between my legs. I stepped on it, fell hard, and fell to the ground.

I was thrown so dazed that I didn't immediately realize a more or less startling situation, but it took me only a few seconds before I got up from the ground before I noticed it.The situation was as follows: my chin was pressed against the prison floor, my lips and the upper part of my face were not touching anything, although they were clearly below the level of my chin, and my forehead, which seemed to be It was soaked in the sticky mist, and the smell of mold was poured straight into the nostrils.I stretched my arms forward, trembling all over.I found myself falling over the top edge of a crater, the size of which I had never been able to determine.Fumbling along the wall near the rim, I succeeded in picking out a small fragment. I threw it into the abyss.For a moment all I heard was the sound of it hitting the wall of the crater as it fell, and later, the dull echo of the crash to the surface.At the same time, there was a sound from above, as if someone was opening and closing the door hastily.A faint ray of light pierced the darkness and disappeared quickly. The death they had arranged for me was clearly visible.I was secretly delighted at the fall that had saved me just now.If I take one more step before I fall, I am already dead.I just saved myself from death.That method of death is exactly the same as the rumored method of executing people by religious courts.In my opinion, those rumors are very absurd.Under the tyranny of the religious court, there are only two ways to die: one is to die from terrible physical pain, and the other is to die from terrible spiritual murder.They arranged for me to die the second way. My nerves are so weak from long torture that the strings are almost snapped, and I tremble when I hear my own voice.No matter how you look at it, the death they arranged for me is the cruelest torture for me. Trembling in all limbs, I groped back to the wall in the dark, determined to die rather than take any chances.In my opinion, the dungeon is full of traps.Under other circumstances I might have developed the courage to plunge into the abyss and end my misery, but at the moment I am a complete coward.I can't get over the descriptions of pits I've read before, and the scariest thing about them is that they don't just kill you all at once. I was so flustered that I was awake for hours, but eventually fell asleep again.When I woke up again, I found that, like last time, there was another piece of bread and a jar of water beside me.I was so thirsty that my lips were parched, and I drank all the water in the jar in one breath.The water may have been drugged, and as soon as it entered my stomach, I felt an irresistible lethargy.I fell into a deep sleep, as if dead.Of course I don't know how long I slept.When he opened his eyes again, he could actually see things around him.I finally saw the size and shape of the prison cell clearly with the help of a ray of dim light from which I couldn't tell where it came from. It turned out that I had completely mistaken the size of the cell just now.Its circumference was not more than twenty-five yards.This again made me waste a lot of effort, what a waste of effort!For in such a dire situation, what could be of less importance than the size of the dungeon? But I just can't get around this.I was very interested in trivial matters, and I was determined to find out the reason for the wrong measurement.It dawned on me at last.When I measured it before, I fell down when I counted to the fifty-second step. At that time, I must have been only one or two steps away from the cloth strip, and I had almost circled the dungeon!But then I fell asleep.And when he awoke he must have turned back—thus almost doubling the perimeter of the dungeon.At that time, I was so confused that I didn't even notice that the wall was on the left when I started, but it was on the right when I walked to the cloth strip. As for the shape of the dungeon, I also guessed wrong.Just now, I groped and walked all the way, and felt that there were many corners on the wall, so I concluded that the shape of the dungeon was irregular.So what an effect absolute darkness has on a man who has just awakened from stupor or sleep!The so-called corners are just the recesses in the wall at different intervals.The dungeon is roughly square.The wall is not the stone wall I imagined, it looks like it was welded with huge iron plates or another metal, and the seams just formed a depression.On the surface of the metal cage, horrible and abominable patterns were roughly smeared everywhere, full of gloomy images originating from religious superstition.The hideous ghostly ghostly skulls, combined with other frightening images, spread across the mountains and seas, making the walls ugly.I saw that the outlines of those ghost pictures were still clear, but it seemed that because of the humid air, the colors seemed to fade and appear blurred.I also noticed the floor, which was paved with stone.The ground was cracked in the center, and a circular sinkhole loomed—the one I had narrowly escaped earlier.However, there is only one trap in the dungeon. I could not see all this very clearly, and with great difficulty, for my physical condition had undergone a great change during my drowsiness.I am now on my back, lying straight on a low wooden frame, and my body is firmly tied with a leather rope like the belt of a teaching uniform.The leather rope was wrapped round and round around my limbs and body, only my head could move freely, and my left hand could barely reach out to eat.The food is served in earthenware dishes on the floor nearby.To my horror, the jug was missing.I say panic because I'm dying of thirst.It was obvious that this thirst was intentional by my persecutors, since the food on the plate was meat and gave off a pungent smell. I survey the dungeon ceiling.It was about thirty or forty feet away from me, and was constructed very much like the walls.A strange figure on one of the panels attracted me deeply.It was a colorful portrait of Old Man Time.It is no different from the general painting method.However, what he held in his hand was not a sickle.After a casual glance, I thought it was one of those giant pendulums we've seen on vintage clocks.But the strange shape of this pendulum prompted me to look at it more.As I looked straight up at it (it was positioned directly above me), I thought I saw it move.In a moment, this feeling was confirmed.It doesn't swing much, and of course it's slow.I stared at it for a while, a little scared, more surprised. I did not turn my eyes to the other objects on the ceiling until I grew tired of its monotonous movement. A slight noise caught my attention.I looked down and saw several huge rats running across the floor.They emerged from a trap within sight to my right.Even as I stare, they file in hastily, with greed in their eyes—meaty lure.I had a hard time scaring them off. After about half an hour, or an hour—my sense of time has become a little confused, and my gaze turns upward again. When I saw it, I couldn't help being shocked and confused.The pendulum had swung almost a yard.Of course, its swing speed has also accelerated.What panicked me the most was the apparent awareness that the pendulum was falling.What I saw now—and with what horror I was self-evident—was at the lower end of the pendulum a gleaming crescent of steel, about a foot long.The two corners are turned upwards, and the lower blade is clearly as sharp as a razor.The pendulum also looks like a razor. It looks big and heavy. It tapers gradually from bottom to top, like a solid broad-sided cone. The upper end is suspended on a heavy copper rod. There was a hissing sound in the air. I no longer have to doubt.This is the way those monks who love to torture people have arranged for me to die.It's really unique. The Inquisition party has learned that I found the trap.The dreadful trap is just for people like me who dare to sing against the state religion.It is a symbol of hell, a punishment rumored to be the pinnacle of the Inquisition.The accidental fall saved me from being buried in the pit.But I understand that taking advantage of people's unpreparedness to plan attacks and using torture is the main method of killing in the dungeon, no matter which one is, it can be called weird.I didn't fall into the pit, and throwing me into it wasn't within the plan of the poisonous plan, but I was sure to die and had no choice, so another milder way of dying was waiting for me.Relatively mild!Thinking of himself using such a word, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. I counted the number of rapid swings of the steel knife one by one, and experienced a fear worse than death for a long time. What good is it to say that!The pendulum dropped inch by inch, minute by minute, and every once in a while, it felt like it was actually falling. A moment is longer than a century.The pendulum is falling, falling.Days passed—perhaps many, many days passed, and the pendulum swung above my head, swinging back and forth, blowing out vicious little winds, and the smell of sharp knives hit my nostrils.I was praying, begging God to make it come down faster.I became utterly frantic, struggling desperately to reach the dreadful swinging blade.Then I suddenly calmed down.I lay there on my back, smiling at the gleaming killing tool, like a child laughing at a rare toy. I was completely unconscious again, but only for a short time, because when I regained consciousness, I didn't feel the pendulum drop at all. However, it may be a long time, because I know that those demons can stop the pendulum at will when I am unconscious.When I woke up this time, I felt unspeakably uncomfortable and weak, as if I hadn't eaten for a long time.Even though there was a lot of pain at the time, the need for food is still human nature.I struggled to reach out my left hand, as far as the leather cord allowed me to reach out.I got the little bit of meat left over from the piece of rat.Just as I grabbed a little bit and put it in my mouth, a thought flashed through my mind. It was not yet formed, but it contained joy and brought hope.But what does hope have to do with me?As I said, the idea is not yet formed.People have many such ideas, and they never come to fruition.I feel that the thought contains joy and brings hope, but I also feel that the thought disappears before it takes shape.I tried my best to grasp it and make it fully present, but all in vain.Suffering for a long time, the normal thinking ability is almost completely exhausted.I became a fool, an idiot. The pendulum swings at right angles to my lying flat body.I can see that the crescent-shaped blade is designed to cut through the heart, and it will tear my robes, over and over again, grinding back and forth.Despite the pendulum's astounding swing—perhaps thirty feet or more, and though the pendulum's hissing force was enough to split iron walls as it descended—it would wear through my robes, It still takes a few minutes.I stopped, not daring to think about it any further.Thoughts stubbornly fixed on this idea.It seems that if you grasp this idea and stop moving forward, you can prevent the steel knife from falling.I forced myself to imagine the sound of blades scraping through my robes, the frightening effect that friction had on my nerves.I pondered over these boring details until my lips were cold and my teeth were cold. Descending - The pendulum is falling slowly and steadily.I compared its swinging speed and falling speed, and a crazy pleasure rose in my heart.To the right - to the left - the swing is really big - accompanied by the scream of the soul in hell - like a stealthy tiger, slowly approaching my heart.Different thoughts prevailed in turn, and I laughed and howled. Descending—the pendulum continues to fall, decisively but brutally!It dangles within three inches of my chest.I struggled violently, trying to free my left arm.But only the part below the elbow can move. I can reach my left hand into the side plate and then into my mouth, but it's hard and I can't reach farther.If I could break the leather cords that bound me above my elbows, I would grab the pendulum and stop it from swinging like hell.Maybe I can stop an avalanche! The descent—the pendulum's descent still continues—the inevitable descent!Every time the pendulum swings, I gasp, struggle, and contract convulsively.In pointless despair, I was full of hope, my eyes followed the pendulum, whether it was swinging outwards or upwards; but when it was swinging downwards, my eyelids trembled with fright, and I quickly closed my eyes and let it go .And though death is a relief, oh, what an indescribable relief!The thought of dropping the pendulum just a little more, and the sharp, gleaming blade suddenly cutting into my chest, made every nerve tremble uncontrollably.It is precisely because of hope that every nerve trembles and every inch of the body shrinks.Hope--hope that overcomes pain, whispers even in the dungeons of the Inquisition to the condemned. It could be seen that the pendulum had only to swing eleven or two more times before it touched my robe.My despairing mind was suddenly sharpened and calmed at the sight of this consequence.For the first time in hours—or days, perhaps—I began to think.It occurred to me that the leather cord, or girth, which bound me, was a complete one.There is no other rope on the body.A slash of the razor-sharp machete across the rope would have cut it wherever it fell.This way, I can use my left hand to untie the rope from my body.But it was terrible to do that, the blade was touching the body, and even a little struggle would kill him.Besides, how could those tormenting dog slaves not expect me to do this?Can they not take strict precautions? !And, does the pendulum just pass the leather cord of my chest?Fearing that this feeble and seemingly final hope would be dashed, I raised my head as much as I could, and carefully inspected the way the rope went around my chest, where my limbs and torso were tangled up—except where the damned scimitar would have passed. . Before the head was straightened in its original position, an idea flashed through my mind like lightning.All I can say is that this is the other half of that unformed escape idea mentioned earlier.Earlier, when I brought food to my thirsty lips, only half of the thoughts floated in my mind.Now the whole idea came out, faint, faint, vague, but whole.Thinking of being able to turn a corner, I immediately started working with enthusiasm, and I was a little nervous. For several hours, beside the low wooden frame I was lying on, a large number of rats swarmed. They were crazy, rampant and greedy. "What are they used to eating in the pit?" I thought to myself. Although I tried to drive them away, they still ate the meat on the plate to save only a few scraps.I have been waving my hands habitually, trying to keep track of the food on the plate, but in the end, this unconscious waving no longer has any effect.The hateful rats are extremely greedy, and their sharp teeth often bite my fingers.There was really not much meat left.I smeared all the oily and fragrant powder on the leather rope, wherever my left hand can reach, I applied it.Then I drew my hands back and lay there holding my breath, not moving. Seeing this change—seeing that I was motionless, the greedy mice were startled and frightened at first, and backed away in panic, and many mice fled back to the pit.But this phenomenon only lasted for a while.I did not miscalculate their greed.Seeing that I was still motionless, one or two of the most daring ones jumped onto the wooden frame and sniffed around on the rope.This looks like a signal for a general attack.Swarms of rats rushed out of the trap in a hurry and recklessly, stuck to the wooden frame, and jumped on my body. It was a flood.The "click-click" swing of the pendulum caused no disturbance at all, and while they dodged to avoid the pendulum hitting, they were busy nibbling at the leather rope coated with minced meat.They squeezed densely on me, twisted around my neck, and sniffed my lips coldly.I was nearly suffocated by them.An indescribable disgust rose up, sticky, and made my heart feel cold.But after a while, I felt that the battle was coming to an end.I clearly felt the loosening of the leather cord.I know that there is more than one place where the mouse bites off.With superhuman will I continued to lie motionless. I wasn't wrong - because I didn't suffer in vain.I finally feel free.The leather rope broke, and it hung on me piece by piece; but the sharp edge of the pendulum also pressed down on my chest.It tore through the serge denim of the gown, and the linen shirting beneath.It swings back and forth two more times.Sharp pain spread through every nerve.However, the time to escape has come.With a wave of my hand, there was a commotion, and the large group of rats that released me hurried away.I moved steadily—cautiously and slowly backing aside, I slipped free from the restraints of the leather straps, avoiding the sharp edge of the scimitar.At least for this moment, I am free. free!But I'm still in the hands of the Inquisition!No sooner had I slid out of the horrible wooden bed onto the stone floor than the hellish thing stopped swinging.I saw some invisible force pulling it up, through the ceiling and out of sight.I have taken this lesson to heart.There is no doubt that my every move is being watched.free!I just escaped a painful death, and what will come next will be another torture that is worse than death.Thinking of this, I rolled my eyes nervously, and looked at the iron walls that imprisoned me.There's an unusual change taking place - at first I didn't notice it clearly - it's obvious, it's already happening in this dungeon!For a while, I felt as if I was in a dream, trembling, and my soul came out of its shell.I guessed wildly, but it was all in vain.During this time, I realized for the first time where the dim light illuminating the dungeon was coming from.It was shot from a gap.The gap was about half an inch wide and ran all the way around the corner of the dungeon wall.In this way, the wall is completely separated from the ground.That's exactly what happened.I desperately looked out of that gap, but of course it was futile. No sooner had I given up this attempt than I noticed an inconceivable and mysterious change in the cell.I had observed before that the ghostly figures on the walls, though quite clear in outline, seemed to be blurred in color.But right now, the color has shown an astonishing change in an instant, and it is becoming more and more dazzling.This makes the drawings of those demons and ghosts even more terrifying, and even people who are not as fragile as me will be scared to death.I have never seen those ghosts with eyes before, but now, there are pairs of magical eyes staring at me from all directions, and there is also a crazy and terrible joy in the eyes, and there is a terrible light like fire, and I can't force myself to believe that the fire is unreal.illusory! ——Between breathing, the hot breath of the iron plate rushed into the nostrils!There is a suffocating smell in the cell!Those demonic eyes staring at me in torment twinkle and brighten, too!The crimson color grew stronger and diffused across the bloody horror paintings.I'm out of breath!I can't breathe!There is no doubt that this is a conspiracy set up by the fellows who tortured me.O grim devil!In order to avoid the hot iron wall, I had to retreat towards the center of the dungeon.Thinking about being roasted alive, the coolness of the pit became a spiritual solace.I couldn't wait to rush to the edge of the deadly pit, and stared down with my eyes wide open.The light from the burning roof illuminated every corner of the pit.I was insane for a moment.My mind refuses to comprehend what it sees.But in the end, it forced its way into my heart—and left a deep mark on my trembling mind.Oh, unspeakable!Oh horror!Oh horrors of the highest order!I screamed and ran away from the edge of the pit, covering my face with grief and weeping. The temperature is rising sharply.I looked up again, trembling like malaria.For the second time there was a change in the dungeon—this time, obviously, in shape.As before, I couldn't figure out what was going on at first.But this time I quickly ascertained the reason—because of my two consecutive escapes, the Inquisition was speeding up its revenge. This time it was difficult to deal with death again.Dungeons are square.But now I see that two of the corners of the iron wall have become acute angles, and the other two have become obtuse angles.Accompanied by a low rumbling sound, the frightening changes intensified rapidly.In an instant, the dungeon became a diamond shape.But the metamorphosis continues - I don't want him to stop at all.I can embrace the fiery walls to my breast as my eternal shroud, and find peace. "Death," I said, "I accept any death but the pit!" idiot!Don't I know that the purpose of setting fire to the iron wall is to drive me into a pit?Can I resist the heat of the iron wall?Can I stand the pressure of it?At this time, the rhombus became flatter, and the speed was so fast that I didn't have a moment to think about it.The center of the rhombus, of course, is its widest point, already lying across the gaping abyss.I flinched—but the impending iron wall pushed me forward irresistibly.最后，我的身体烤焦了，它扭动着，翻腾着，可地牢坚实的地板上，已无我的立锥之地。我不再挣扎。我最后响亮、悠长、绝望地尖叫了一声，为痛苦的灵魂寻到了发泄的出口。我感觉到自己在陷坑边缘摇摇欲坠——我移开了目光——忽然，我听到了一阵嘈杂的人声，听到了一阵嘹亮的声音，像是无数号角的奏鸣。我还听到了似乎是雷霆万钧的刺耳的声音！炽热的墙壁“刷”地一下恢复了原状。正当我晕乎乎地快要跌入深渊之际，一只手臂伸来，一把抓住了我的胳膊。那是拉萨尔将军的手.法国军队已开进托莱多城。宗教法庭沦陷敌手。 （1842年）