In their voracity the vermin frequently fastened their sharp
fangs in my fingers. With the particles of the oily and spicy viand
which now remained, I thoroughly rubbed the bandage wherever I could
reach it; then, raising my hand from the floor, I lay breathlessly
still.
At first the ravenous animals were startled and terrified at the
change --at the cessation of movement. They shrank alarmedly back;
many sought the well. But this was only for a moment. I had not
counted in vain upon their voracity. Observing that I remained without
motion, one or two of the boldest leaped upon the frame-work, and
smelt at the surcingle. This seemed the signal for a general rush.
Forth from the well they hurried in fresh troops. They clung to the
wood --they overran it, and leaped in hundreds upon my person. The
measured movement of the pendulum disturbed them not at all.
Avoiding its strokes they busied themselves with the anointed bandage.
They pressed --they swarmed upon me in ever accumulating heaps. They
writhed upon my throat; their cold lips sought my own; I was half
stifled by their thronging pressure; disgust, for which the world
has no name, swelled my bosom, and chilled, with a heavy clamminess,
my heart.
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