Only by some half vegetable instinct this darkened
man was turning towards the morning sun, and staring it full in the face.
Alfred saw the rays strike and sparkle on those glassy orbs, and fire
them; yet they never so much as winked. He was appalled yet fascinated by
this weird sight: could not take his eyes off it, and shuddered at it in
the very water. With such creatures as that he must be confined, or die
miserably like a mouse in a basin of water.
He hesitated between two horrors.
Presently his foot struck something, and he found it was a large pipe
that entered the tank to the distance of about a foot This pipe was not
more than three feet under water, and Alfred soon contrived to get upon
it, and rest his fingers upon the iron edge of the tank. The position was
painful: yet so he determined to remain till night: and then, if
possible, steal away. Every faculty of mind and body was strung up to
defend himself against the wretches who had entrapped him.
He had not been long in this position, when voices approached, and next
the shadow of a ladder moved across the wall towards him.
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