Slow Torture
Straight off, we were in the country. It was most lovely and pleasant in those
sylvan solitudes in the early cool morning in the first freshness of autumn. From
hill-tops we saw fair green valleys lying spread out
below, with streams winding through them, and island-groves of trees here and there,
and huge lonely oaks scattered about and casting
black blots of shade; and beyond the valleys we saw the ranges ofⒶalteration in the MS hills, blue with haze, stretching away in billowy perspective to the horizon, with
at wide intervals a dim fleck of white
or gray on a wave-summit, which we knew was a castle. We crossed broad
[begin page 145]
natural lawns sparkling with dew, and we moved like spirits, the
cushionedⒶalteration in the MS
turfⒶalteration in the MS giving out no sound of footfall; we dreamed along
through glades in a mist of green light that got its tint from the sun-drenched roofⒶalteration in the MS of leaves overhead, and by our feet the clearest and coldest of runlets wentⒶalteration in the MS frisking and gossiping over its reefs and making a sort of
whisperyⒶrejected substantive
Ⓐtextual note music comfortable to hear; and at times we left the world behind and entered into
the solemn great deeps and rich gloomⒶalteration in the MS of the forest, where
furtive wild things whisked and skurried by and were gone before you could even get
your eye on the place where the noise was; and
where only the earliest birds were turning out and getting to business with a song
here and a quarrel yonder and a mysterious far-off
hammering and drummingⒶalteration in the MS for worms on a tree-trunk away
somewhere in the impenetrable remotenesses of the woods. And by and by out we would
swing again, into the glare.
About the third or fourth or fifth time that we swung out into the glare—it was along there somewhere, a couple of hours or so after sun-up,—it wasn’t as pleasant as it had been. It was beginning to get hot. This was quite noticeable. We had a very long pull, after that, without any shade. Now it is curious how progressively little frets grow and multiply after they once get a start. Things which I didn’t mind at all, at first, I began to mind now—and more and more, too, all the time. The first ten or fifteen times IⒶemendation wanted my handkerchief I didn’t seem to care; I got along, and said never mind, it isn’tⒶalteration in the MS any matter, and dropped it out of my mind. But now it was different; I wanted it all the time; it was nag, nag, nag, right along, and no rest; I couldn’t get it out of my mind; and so at last I lost my temper and said hang a man that would make a suit of armor without any pockets in it. You see, I had my handkerchief in my helmet; and some other things; but it was that kind of a helmet that you can’t take off by yourself. That hadn’t occurred to me when I put it there; and in fact I didn’t know it. I supposed it would be particularly convenient there. And so now, the thought of itsⒶemendation Ⓐalteration in the MS being there, so handy and close by, and yet not get-atableⒶalteration in the MS, made it all the worse and the harderⒶalteration in the MS to bear. Yes, the thing that you can’t get is the thing that you want, mainly; every one hasⒶalteration in the MS noticed that. Well, it took my mind off from everything else; took it clear off, and centred it in my helmet; and mile after mile, there it stayedⒶemendation, imagining the handkerchiefⒶalteration in the MS, picturing the handkerchief; and it wasⒶalteration in the MS bitter and aggravating to have the salt sweat keep trickling down into my eyes, and I couldn’t get at it. ItⒶalteration in the MS seems [begin page 146] like a little thing, on paper, but it was not a little thing at all; it was the most real kind of misery. I would not say it if it was not so. I made up my mind that I would carry along a reticule, next time, let it look how it might, and people say what they would. Of course these iron dudes of the Round Table would think it was scandalous, and maybe raise Sheol about it, but as for me, give me comfort first, and style afterwards.Ⓐalteration in the MS So we jogged along, and jogged along, andⒶrejected substantive Ⓐtextual note now and then we struck a stretch of dust, and it would tumble up in clouds and getⒶalteration in the MS into my nose and make me sneeze and cry; and of course I said things I oughtn’t to have saidⒶemendation, I don’t deny that. I am not better than others.Ⓐalteration in the MS We couldn’t seem to meet anybody in this lonesome Britain,Ⓐalteration in the MS
Meantime it was getting hotter and hotter in there. You see the sun was beating down and warming up the iron more and more all the time. Well, when you are hot, that way, every little thing irritates you. When I trotted, I rattled like a crate of dishes, and that annoyed me; and moreover I couldn’t seem to stand that shield slatting and banging, now about my breast, now aroundⒶemendation my back; and if I dropped into a walk my joints creaked and screeched in that wearisome way that a wheelbarrowⒶemendation does, and as we didn’t create any breeze at that [begin page 147] gait, I was like to get fried in that stove; and besides, the quieter you went the heavier the iron settled down on you and the more and more tons you seemed to weigh every minute. And you had to be always changing hands, and passing your spear over to the other foot, it got so irksome for one hand to hold it long at a time.
Well, you know, when you perspire that way, in rivers, there comes a time when you—when you—well, when you itch.Ⓐalteration in the MS You are inside, yourⒶalteration in the MS hands are outside;Ⓐalteration in the MS so there you are; nothingⒶalteration in the MS but iron between. ItⒶalteration in the MS is not a light thing, let it sound as it may. First it is one place; then another; then another and another and another;Ⓐrejected substantive Ⓐtextual note then some more; and it goes on spreading and spreading, and at last the territory is all occupied, and nobody can imagine what you feel like, nor how unpleasantⒶalteration in the MS it is. And when itⒶalteration in the MS had got to the worst, and it seemed to me that I could not stand anything more, a flyⒶalteration in the MS got in through the bars andⒶalteration in the MS settled on my nose, and the bars were stuck, and wouldn’t work, and I couldn’t get the visor up; IⒶrejected substantive Ⓐtextual note couldⒶalteration in the MS only shake my head, which was baking hot by this time, and the fly —well, you know how a fly acts when he has got a certaintyⒶalteration in the MS—he only minded the shaking enough to change from nose to lip, and lip to ear, and buzz and buzz all around in there, and keep on lighting and biting, in a way that a person already so distressed as I was, simply could not stand.Ⓐtextual note Ⓐalteration in the MS So I gave in, and got Alisande to unship the helmet and relieve me of it. Then sheⒶemendation emptied the conveniences out ofⒶalteration in the MS itⒶemendation and fetched it full of water, and I drank and then stoodⒶalteration in the MS up and sheⒶemendation poured the rest down inside the armor. One cannot think how refreshing it was. SheⒶemendation continued to fetch and pour until I was well soaked, and thoroughly comfortable.
[begin page 148]
It was good to have a rest—and peace. But nothing is quite perfect in this life, at any time. I had made a pipe a while back, and also some pretty fair tobacco; not the real thing, but what some of the Indians use: the inside bark of the willow, dried. These comforts had been in the helmet, and now I had them again, but no matches.
Gradually, as the time wore along, one annoyingⒶalteration in the MS fact was borne in upon my understanding—that we were weather-bound. An armed novice cannot mount his horseⒶalteration in the MS without help, and plenty of it. Sandy was not enough; not enough for me, anyway. We had to wait until somebody should come along. Waiting, in silence, would have been agreeable enough, for I was full of matter for reflection, and wanted to give it a chance to work. I wanted to try and think out how it was that rational or even half-rational men could ever have learned to wear armor, considering its inconveniences; and how they had managed to keep up such a fashion for generations when it was plain that what I had suffered to-day they had had to suffer all the days of their lives. I wanted to think that out; and moreover I wanted to think out some way to reform this evil and persuade the people to let the foolish fashion die out; but thinkingⒶalteration in the MS was out of the questionⒶalteration in the MS in the circumstances. You couldn’t think, where Sandy was. She wasⒶalteration in the MS a quite biddable creature and good-hearted, but she had a flow of talk that was as steady as a mill, and made your head sore like the drays and wagons in a city. If she had had a cork she would have been a comfort.Ⓐalteration in the MS But you can’t cork that kind; they would die. Her clackⒶalteration in the MS was going all day, and you would think something would surely happen to her works, by and by;Ⓐalteration in the MS but no, theyⒶalteration in the MS never got out of order, and she never had to slack up for wordsⒶalteration in the MS; she could grind, and pump, and churn and buzz by the week, and never stop to oil up or blow out. And yet the result was just nothing but wind. She never had any ideas, any more than a fog has. She was a perfect blatherskite; I mean for jaw, jaw, jaw, talk, talk, talk, jabber, jabber, jabber; but just as good as she could be. I hadn’t minded her mill that morning, on account of having that hornet’s nest of other troubles; but more than once in the afternoon I had to say—
“Take a rest, child; the way you are using up all the domestic air, the kingdom will have to go to importing it by to-morrow, and itⒶalteration in the MS’s a low enough treasury without that.”
stand.] followed by a passage which was revised in the MS then canceled in a later stage. See emendations for the text of the deleted passage, in which the position of the following revisions is indicated by a superior number.
2. the Demoiselle . . . if that] added on the verso of the MS page with instructions to turn over to replace ‘the girl and said: ¶ “Mary Ann!” ¶ “An it please you, sir, if that’ canceled on the recto.
3. Demoiselle] originally ‘demoiselle’; ‘D’ written over ‘d’.
4. “Yes, I know] interlined above canceled ‘ “Never mind’.
5. stir] interlined above canceled ‘hump’.
6. This . . . formalities.] interlined above canceled ‘, dear!’; the exclamation point preceding written over a comma.
7. that . . . skip to the ground. There—] added on two inserted MS pages to replace a canceled dash and closing quotation marks and canceled ¶ ‘ “Good girl, good girl—but hurry; hurry’s the word, my child. If you want to do me a good turn—” ¶ “I will well, my lord Boss; and it is a true word. Right so it were dolor and shame if—” ¶ “All right, then, don’t lose a minute. Skip to the ground—quick! There, now, that’s all right;’; ‘Boss;’ interlined above a canceled semicolon; ‘Right so’ interlined above canceled ‘Alack’; ‘lose’ follows canceled ‘you’.
8. be in] interlined following canceled ‘lie’ which was interlined above canceled ‘be in’.
9. pleasure] follows canceled ‘the’.
10. as] written over ‘in’.
11. “Ah] follows canceled ‘ “Never mind the smoke of hell’.
12. “I] follows wiped-out ‘that’.
13. must] interlined following canceled ‘ ’ve got to’.
14. kettle] interlined above canceled ‘pot’ which follows canceled ‘hel’.
15. it . . . me.] interlined above canceled ‘or I’ll perish.’
16. I am . . . dead.”] interlined above canceled ‘I’m a dead man.” ’
17. awkward] follows canceled ‘as’.
18. by . . . neglect.] interlined above canceled ‘as a cow.’
19. darkened] interlined above canceled ‘turned’.
20. flying] written over wiped-out ‘b’.
21. hit.] followed by canceled ‘They went over me, and under me, and everywhere. From time to time I dropped a hint to help her aim: ¶ “High ball! Low ball!” and so on.’; ‘They . . . everywhere.’ and ‘From . . . so on.’ canceled separately; ‘dropped’ appears to have been canceled without a replacement before ‘From . . . so on.’ was canceled.
22. When . . . spear.] interlined above canceled ¶ ‘At last she got the horse, which showed that she was improving; but by that time she was out of rocks; and besides she was pretty well wearied out, anyway. So it seemed best to try the spear; it would be quicker, and might be better, too. Sure enough, it was just the thing.’; ‘wearied’ interlined above canceled ‘tuckered’.
23. one] interlined above canceled ‘I’.
24. and] interlined.
25. It . . . was.] interlined.
26. The girl] interlined above canceled ‘Mary Ann’.
27. I’m] follows canceled ‘Dig me out of my shell, and give me the blessed air;’.
28. hurt.] followed by canceled closing quotation marks.
