Золотой жук. Уровень 1 / The Gold-bug. Эдгар Аллан По

      No doubt[21]I now grew very pale. No matter what I did, the sound increased. How could the officers not hear it?! No! They heard! They knew! They were making a mockery of my horror! I could not tolerate this agony anymore.

      “Villains!” I screamed. “I admit the deed! Tear up the floor! Here, here! It is the beating of his hideous heart!”

      Ms.[22] found in a bottle

      People often criticize me for being too rational. Nature gave me a scientific mind, and my wealthy family gave me a fine education. This together formed my habits of hard logical thinking. I am the last person to believe in any kind of mystery. Considering this, I have an incredible story to tell.

      I spent many years in foreign travel. It was 18… when I went on a voyage to the Archipelago of the Sunda Islands as passenger. We sailed in the rich and populous island of Java on a beautiful ship of about four hundred tons. It carried cotton wool, oil, coir, jaggeree, ghee, cocoanuts, and a few cases of opium. The ship was so full, that she crank.

      The ship sailed with a mere breath of wind. For many days it stood along the eastern coast of Java. Nothing disturbed our monotonous course.

      One evening, a single cloud in the sky attracted my attention. It was of unusual color and it was the first cloud we saw since our departure from Batavia. I watched it carefully until sunset. Then it spread all at once to the eastward and westward and left a narrow strip of vapor in the sky. Then I noticed an unusual dusky red color of the moon and the peculiar character of the sea. The water was rapidly changing and seemed more than usually transparent.

      As night came on, every breath of wind died away. The air now became very hot and calm. A long hair, which I held between the finger and thumb, hung without making the slightest move. However, the captain saw no indication of danger and ordered to remove the sails and let go the anchor. The crew stretched themselves deliberately on deck. I went below, and a heavy feeling of something bad coming developed in my chest. Indeed, the weather signaled Simoom[23]. I told the captain my fears; but he paid no attention to what I said.

      I could not sleep so I went on desk. As I placed my foot on the upper step of the companion-ladder, a loud, humming noise startled me; the ship started shaking. Before I even realized, a wild wave knocked me off[24]. It swept the entire decks from stem to stern. Although the ship was completely waterlogged[25], after a minute it rose from the sea. It shacked for a while and finally righted[26].

      By some miracle, I survived. I was jammed in between the sternpost and rudder. With great difficulty, I stood up and looked dizzily[27] around. We were immersed in the whirlpool of a foaming ocean. After a while, I heard the voice of an old Swede, who shipped with us when we leaved port. I hallooed to him and he came to me. We soon discovered we were the only survivors; the wave swept all on desk overboard, the captain and mates were dead too for water flooded their cabins. No one could help us to save the ship.

      We were paralyzed by the momentary expectation of going down. Our rope broke at the first breath of the hurricane and the framework of our stern was shattered. We believed that a great wave would finally destroy our poor ship but it did not happen.

      For four days and nights, waves carried us down the coast of New Holland. On the fifth day, the wind was blowing more to the northward and it became extremely cold. The sky was thick and grey; no clouds were in it. About noon, we saw the sun. It gave out no light but a dull and sullen glow[28].

      Our ship sank within the sea and we could see the sun no more. We fell into complete darkness. The sixth day never arrived – it was an eternal night. We noticed that, though the storm continued, there was no more surf or foam. A superstitious[29] horror filled our souls.

      We secured ourselves to the stump of the mast and looked out bitterly into the world of ocean. We had no means of calculating time and we had no idea where we were. We knew, however, we made farther to the southward than any previous navigators. Every moment threatened to be our last. My companion reminded me that our ship has some excellent qualities; but I could not help but feel hopeless.

      We were at the bottom of one of these abysses, when a quick scream from my companion broke the night. “See! see!” cried he, shrieking in my ears, “God! see! see!” I saw a dull, sullen glare of red light that fell on our desk. I looked up and my blood froze from what I saw. A gigantic ship, about four thousand tons, floated at a terrific height directly above us. Its size was much bigger than any ship I knew. It was of a deep dark color and had no usual customary carved figures on it. A single row of brass cannon[30] poked out from its open ports. But what mainly inspired us with horror was that the ship bore up under a press of sail in the very teeth of that supernatural sea[31]. For a moment, it paused on the giddy top, then trembled and – came down.

      I suddenly felt fearless. I went up as far as I could and waited the ruin that was coming. Our own vessel sank with its head to the sea. The shock of the descending mass struck it and it resulted in throwing me on the rigging[32] of the stranger.

      As I fell, the ship anchored. The crew was busy and no one noticed me. I went to the main hatchway, which was open, and hid in the hold. I do not know why I wanted to be unnoticed. Something chilling was in in appearance of the navigator of the ship. I removed a small portion of the shifting-boards and made a hiding-place in the hold. I hardly completed my work when I heard footsteps. A man passed by my place. I did not see his face but I could tell it was an old man. He muttered to himself, in a low broken tone, some words of a language, which I could not understand. He then went to a corner where a pile of singular-looking instruments and old-looking charts of navigation lay. Finally, he went on deck, and I saw him no more.