 Section 9 of Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Linda Ferguson. Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories, Volume 1 by Julian Hawthorne, Editor. Section 9, The Oblong Box by Edgar Allan Poe. Some years ago I engaged passage from Charleston, South Carolina to the city of New York in the fine package ship Independence, Captain Hardy. We were to sail on the 15th of the month, June, weather permitting, and on the 14th I went on board to arrange some matters in my state room. I found that we were to have a great many passengers, including a more than unusual number of ladies. On the list were several of my acquaintances, and among other names I was rejoiced to see that of Mr Cornelius Wyatt, a young artist for whom I entertained feelings of warm friendship. He had been with me a fellow student at C. University, where we were very much together. He had the ordinary temperament of genius, and was a compound of misanthropies, sensibility, and enthusiasm. To these qualities he united the warmest and truest heart which ever beat in the human bosom. I observed that his name was carded upon three state rooms, and upon again referring to the list of passengers I found that he had engaged passage for himself, wife, and two sisters, his own. The state rooms were sufficiently roomy, and each had two births, one above the other. These births, to be sure, were so exceedingly narrow as to be insufficient for more than one person. Still I could not comprehend why there were three state rooms for these four persons. I was, just at this epoch, in one of those moody frames of mind which makes a man abnormally inquisitive about trifles, and I confess, with shame, that I busied myself in a variety of ill-read and preposterous conjectures about this matter of the supernumery state room. It was no business of mine, to be sure, but with nonetheless pertinacity did I occupy myself in attempts to resolve the enigma. At last I reached a conclusion which brought in me great wonder why I had not arrived at it before. It is a servant, of course, I said. What a fool I am not sooner to have thought of so obvious a solution. And then I again repaired to the list, but here I saw distinctly that no servant was to come with the party, although, in fact, it had been the original design to bring one, for the words, and servant, had been first written and then overscored. Oh, extra baggage to be sure, I now said to myself, something he wishes not to be put in the hold, something to be kept under his own eye. Ah, I have it, a painting or so, and this is what he has been bargaining about with Nicolino, the Italian Jew. This idea satisfied me, and I dismissed my curiosity for the nonce. Wyatt's two sisters I knew very well, and most amiable and clever girls they were. His wife he had newly married, and I had never yet seen her. He had often talked about her in my presence, however, and in his usual style of enthusiasm. He described her as of surpassing beauty, wit, and accomplishment. I was, therefore, quite anxious to make her acquaintance. On the day in which I visited the ship, the fourteenth, Wyatt and party were also to visit it, so the captain informed me, and I waited on board an hour longer than I had designed, in hope of being presented to the bride, but then an apology came. Mrs. W. was a little indisposed, and would decline coming on board until to-morrow, at the hour of sailing. The morrow, having arrived, I was going from my hotel to the wharf, when Captain Hardy met me and said that, owing to circumstances, a stupid but convenient phrase, he rather thought the independence would not sail for a day or two, and that when all was ready he would send up and let me know. This I thought strange, for there was a stiff, southerly breeze, but as the circumstances were not forthcoming, although I pumped for them with much perseverance, I had nothing to do but to return home and digest my impatience at leisure. I did not receive the expected message from the captain for nearly a week. It came at length, however, and I immediately went on board. The ship was crowded with passengers, and everything was in a bustle, attended upon making sail. Wyatt's party arrived in about ten minutes after myself. There were two sisters, the bride, and the artist, the latter in one of his customary fits of moody misanthropy. I was too well used to these, however, to pay the many special attention. He did not even introduce me to his wife. The courtesy devolving perforce upon his sister Marion, a very sweet and intelligent girl, who in a few hurried words made us acquainted. Mrs. Wyatt had been closely veiled, and when she raised her veil, in acknowledging my bow, I confessed that I was very profoundly astonished. I should have been much more so, however, had not long experience advised me not to trust, with too implicit a reliance, the enthusiastic description of my friend, the artist, when indulging in comments upon the loveliness of women. When beauty was the theme, I well knew with what facility he soared into the regions of the purely ideal. The truth is I could not help regarding Mrs. Wyatt, as a decidedly plain-looking woman. If not positively ugly, she was not, I think, very far from it. She was dressed, however, in exquisite taste, and then I had no doubt that she had captivated my friend's heart by more enduring graces of the intellect and soul. She said very few words and passed at once into her state-room with Mr. W. My old inquisitiveness now returned. There was no servant that was a settled point. I looked therefore for the extra baggage. After some delay, a cart arrived at the wharf with an oblong pine box which was everything that seemed to be expected. Immediately upon its arrival we made sail, and in a short time were safely over the bar and standing out to sea. The box in question was, as I say, oblong. It was about six feet in length by two-and-a-half in breadth. I observed it attentively and liked to be precise. Now this shape was peculiar, and no sooner had I seen it than I took credit to myself for the accuracy of my guessing. I had reached the conclusion, it will be remembered, that the extra baggage of my friend the artist would prove to be pictures, or at least a picture, for I knew he had been for several weeks in conference with Nicolino, and now here was a box which, from its shape, could possibly contain nothing in the world but a copy of Leonardo's Last Supper, and a copy of this very Last Supper done by Rubini the Younger at Florence I had known for some time to be in the possession of Nicolino. This point, therefore, I considered as sufficiently settled. I chuckled excessively when I thought of my acumen. It was the first time I had ever known why to keep from me any of his artistic secrets, but here he evidently intended to steal a march upon me and smuggle a fine picture to New York, under my very nose, expecting me to know nothing of the matter. I resolved to quiz him well, now and hereafter. One thing, however, annoyed me not a little. The box did not go into the extra-state room. It was deposited in Wyatt's own, and there, too, it remained occupying very nearly the whole of the floor. No doubt to the exceeding discomfort of the artist and his wife, this, the more especially, as the tarot paint with which it was lettered in sprawling capitals emitted a strong, disagreeable, and, to my fancy, a peculiarly disgusting odor. On the lid were painted the words, Mrs. Adelaide Curtis, Albany, New York, charge of Cornelia's Wyatt Esquire, this side up, to be handled with care. Now I was aware that Mrs. Adelaide Curtis of Albany was the artist's wife's mother, but then I looked upon the whole address as a mystification, intended especially for myself. I made up my mind, of course, that the box and the contents would never get farther north than the studio of my misanthropic friend in Chambers Street, New York. For the first three or four days we had find weather, although the wind was dead ahead, having chopped round to the northward immediately upon our losing sight of the coast. The passengers were, consequently, in high spirits and disposed to be social. I must accept, however, Wyatt and his sisters, who behaved stiffly, and I could not help thinking uncourteously to the rest of the party. Wyatt's conduct I did not so much regard. He was gloomy, even beyond his usual habit. In fact, he was morose, but in him I was prepared for eccentricity. For the sisters, however, I could make no excuse. They secluded themselves in their staterooms, during the greater part of the passage, and absolutely refused, although I repeatedly urged them, to hold communication with any person on board. Mrs. Wyatt herself was far more agreeable, that is to say, she was chatty, and to be chatty is no slight recommendation at sea. She became excessively intimate with most of the ladies, and to my profound astonishment, evinced no equivocal disposition to coquette with the men. She amused us all very much. I say amused, and scarcely know how to explain myself. The truth is, I soon found that Mrs. W. was far more often a laughed at than with. The gentlemen said little about her, but the ladies in a little while pronounced her a good-hearted thing, rather indifferent-looking, totally uneducated, and decidedly vulgar. The great wonder was how Wyatt had been entrapped into such a match. Wealth was the general solution, but this I knew to be no solution at all, for Wyatt had told me that she neither brought him a dollar nor had any expectation from any source whatever. He had married, he said, for love and for love only, and his bride was far more than worthy of his love. When I thought of these expressions on the part of my friend, I confessed that I felt indescribably puzzled. Could it be possible that he was taking leave of his senses? What else could I think? He, so refined, so intellectual, so fastidious, with so exquisite a perception of the faulty, and so keen an appreciation of the beautiful. To be sure the lady seemed especially fond of him, particularly so in his absence, when she made herself ridiculous by frequent quotations of what had been said by her beloved husband Mr. Wyatt. The word husband seemed forever to use one of her own delicate expressions, forever on the tip of her tongue. In the meantime it was observed by all on board that he avoided her in the most pointed manner, and for the most part shut himself up alone in his state room, where in fact he might have been said to live altogether, leaving his wife at full liberty to amuse herself as she thought best in the public society of the main cabin. My conclusion from what I saw and heard was that the artist, by some unaccountable freak of fate, or perhaps in some fit of enthusiastic and fanciful passion, had been induced to unite himself with a person altogether beneath him, and that the natural result, entire and speedy disgust, had ensued. I pitied him from the bottom of my heart, but could not, for that reason, quite forgive his inocommunicativeness in the matter of the last supper, for this I resolved to have my revenge. One day he came upon deck, and taking his arm as had been my want, I sauntered with him back and forward. His gloom, however, which I considered quite natural under any circumstances, seemed entirely unabated. He said little, and that, moodily, and with evident effort. I ventured a jest or two, and he made a sickening attempt at a smile. Poor fellow! As I thought of his wife, I wondered that he could have art to put on even the semblance of mirth. At last I ventured a home thrust. I determined to commence a series of covert insinuations or innuendos about the oblong box, just to let him perceive, gradually, that I was not altogether the but or victim of his little bit of a pleasant mystification. My first observation was by the way of opening a masked battery. I said something about the peculiar shape of that box, and as I spoke the words, I smiled knowingly, winked, and touched him gently with my forefinger in the ribs. The manner in which Wyatt received this harmless pleasantry convinced me at once that he was mad. At first he stared at me, as if he found it impossible to comprehend the witticism of my remark, but as its point seemed slowly to make its way into his brain, his eyes, in the same proportion, seemed protruding from their sockets. Then he grew very red, then hideously pale. Then, as if highly amused with what I had insinuated, he began a loud and boisterous laugh, which to my astonishment he kept up with gradually increasing vigor for ten minutes or more. In conclusion he fell flat and heavily upon the deck. When I ran to uplift him, to all appearance, he was dead. I called assistance, and with much difficulty we brought him to himself. Upon reviving he spoke incoherently for some time. At length we bled him and put him to bed. The next morning he was quite recovered, so far as regarded his mere bodily health. Of his mind I say nothing, of course. I avoided him during the rest of the passage by advice of the captain, who seemed to coincide with me altogether in my views of his insanity, but cautioned me to say nothing on this head to any person on board. Several circumstances occurred immediately after this fit of riots, which contributed to heighten the curiosity which I was already possessed. Among other things this. I had been nervous, drank too much strong green tea, and slept ill at night, in fact for two nights I could not be properly said to sleep at all. Now my state room opened into the main cabin, or dining room, as did those of all the single men on board. Wyatt's three rooms were in the after-cabin, which was separated from the main one by a slight sliding door, never locked even at night. As we were almost constantly on a wind, and the breeze was not a little stiff, the ship healed to Lee Wood very considerably, and whenever her starboard side was to Lee Wood, the sliding door between the cabins slid open, and so remained, nobody taking the trouble to get up and shut it. But my birth was in such a position that when my own state room door was open, as well as the sliding door in question, and my own door was always open on account of the heat, I could see into the after-cabin quite distinctly, and just at that portion of it too, where was situated the state rooms of Mr. Wyatt. Well, during the two nights, not consecutive, while I lay awake, I clearly saw Mrs. W, about eleven o'clock upon each night, still cautiously from the state room of Mr. W, and enter the extra room, where she remained until daybreak, when she was called by her husband and went back. That they were virtually separated was clear. They had separate apartments, no doubt in contemplation of a more permanent divorce, and here, after all, I thought was the mystery of the extra room. There was another circumstance, too, which interested me much. During the two wakeful nights in question, and immediately after the disappearance of Mrs. Wyatt into the extra state room, I was attracted by certain singular cautious, subdued noises in that of a husband. After listening to them for some time, with thoughtful attention, I at length succeeded perfectly in translating their import. There were sounds occasioned by the artist in prying open the oblong box, by means of a chisel and a mallet, the latter being apparently muffled or deadened by some soft woollen or cotton substance in which its head was enveloped. In this manner I fancied I could distinguish the precise moment when he unfairly disengaged the lid, also that I could determine when he removed it altogether, and when he deposited upon the lower berth in his room. This latter point I knew, for example, by certain slight taps which the lid made in striking against the wooden edges of the berth, as he endeavoured to lay it down very gently, there being no room for it on the floor. After this there was a dead stillness, and I heard nothing more, upon either occasion, until nearly daybreak, unless, perhaps I may mention a low sobbing or murmuring sound so very much suppressed as to be nearly inaudible, if indeed the whole of this latter noise were not rather produced by my own imagination. I say it seemed to resemble sobbing or sighing, but of course it could not have been either. I rather think it was a ringing in my own ears. Mr. Wyatt, no doubt, according to custom, was merely giving the rain to one of his hobbies, indulging in one of his fits of artistic enthusiasm. He had opened his oblong box, in order to feast his eyes on the pictorial treasure within. There was nothing in this, however, to make him sob. I repeat, therefore, that it must have been simply a freak of my own fancy, distempered by good Captain Hardy's green tea. Just before dawn on each of the two nights of which I speak, I distinctly heard Mr. Wyatt replace the lid upon the oblong box, and force the nails into their old places by means of the muffled mallet. Having done this he issued from his stateroom fully dressed and proceeded to call Mrs. W. from hers. We had been at sea seven days, and were now off Cape Hatteras, when there came a tremendously heavy blow from the south-west. We were, in a measure, prepared for it, however, as the weather had been holding out threats for some time. Everything was made snug, aloe and loft, and as the wind steadily freshened, we lay too at length, under spanker and foretop sail, both double-reefed. In this trim we rode safely enough for forty-eight hours, the ship proving herself an excellent sea-boat in many respects, and shipping no water of any consequence. At the end of this period, however, the gale had freshened into a hurricane, and our aftersales split into ribbons, bringing us so much in the trough of the water that we shipped several prodigious seas, one immediately after the other. By this accident we lost three men overboard with the caboose, and nearly the whole of the labored bulwarks. Scarcely had we recovered our senses before the foretop sail went into shreds, when we got up a storm's stay sail, and with this did pretty well for some hours, the ship heading the sea much more steadily than before. The gale still held on, however, and we saw no signs of its abating. The rigging was found to be ill-fitted and greatly strained, and on the third day of the blow, about five in the afternoon, our mizzen mast in a heavy lurch to Winwood went by the board. For an hour or more we tried in vain to get rid of it, on account of the prodigious rolling of the ship, and before we had succeeded the carpenter came aft and announced four feet water in the hold. To add to our dilemma we found the pumps choked and nearly useless. All was now confusion and despair, but an effort was made to lighten the ship by throwing overboard as much of her cargo as could be reached, and by cutting away the two masts that remained. This we at last accomplished, but we were still unable to do anything at the pumps, and in the meantime the leak gained on us very fast. At sundown the gale had sensibly diminished in violence, and as the sea went down with it we still entertained faint hopes of saving ourselves and the boats. At eight p.m. the clouds broke away to Winwood, and we had the advantage of a full moon, a piece of good fortune which served wonderfully to cheer our drooping spirits. After incredible labour we succeeded at length in getting the longboat over the side without material accident, and into this we crowded the hull of the crew and most of the passengers. This party made off immediately, and after undergoing much suffering finally arrived in safety at Ocracoke Inlet on the third day after the wreck. Fourteen passengers with the captain remained on board resolving to trust their fortunes to the jolly boat at the stern. We lowered it without difficulty, although it was only by a miracle that we prevented it from swamping as it touched the water. It contained, when afloat, the captain and his wife, Mr. White and Party, a Mexican officer, wife, four children, and myself, with a negro valet. We had no room, of course, for anything except a few positively necessary instruments, some provisions, and the clothes upon our backs. No one had thought of even attempting to save anything more. What must have been the astonishment of all then, when, having proceeded a few fathoms from the ship, Mr. White stood up in the stern sheets and coolly demanded of Captain Hardy that the boat should be put back for the purpose of taking in his oblong box. "'Sit down, Mr. White,' replied the captain, somewhat sternly. "'You will capsize us if you do not sit quite still. Our gunwale is almost in the water now.' "'The box,' versifrated Mr. White, still standing. "'The box, I say, Captain Hardy, you cannot. You will not refuse me. Its weight will be but a trifle. It is nothing, mere nothing. "'By the mother who bore you, for the love of heaven, by your hope of salvation I implore you to put back for the box.' The captain, for a moment, seemed touched by the earnest appeal of the artist, but he regained his stern composure and merely said, "'Mr. White, you are mad. I cannot listen to you. Sit down, I say, or you will swamp the boat. "'Stay. Hold him. Seize him. He is about to spring overboard. There! I knew it. He is over.'" As the captain said this, Mr. White, in fact, sprang from the boat, and as we were yet in the lee of the wreck, succeeded by almost superhuman exertion in getting hold of a rope which hung from the four chains. In another moment he was on board and rushing frantically down into the cabin. In the meantime we had been swept astern of the ship, and being quite out of her lee were at the mercy of the tremendous sea which was still running. We made a determined effort to put back, but our little boat was like a feather in the breath of the tempest. We saw at a glance that the doom of the unfortunate artist was sealed. As our distance from the wreck rapidly increased, the madman, for as such only could we regard him, was seen to emerge from the companion-way, up which by dint of strength that appeared gigantic, he dragged bodily the oblong box. While we gazed in the extreme of astonishment he passed rapidly several turns of a three-inch rope first around the box and then around his body. In another instant both body and the box were in the sea, disappearing suddenly at once and forever. We lingered a while sadly upon our oars, with our eyes riveted upon the spot. At length we pulled away. The silence remained unbroken for an hour. Finally I hazarded a remark. Did you observe, Captain, how suddenly they sank? Was not that an exceedingly singular thing? I confessed that I entertained some feeble hope of his final deliverance when I saw him lash himself to the box and commit himself to the sea. They sank as a matter of course, replied the Captain. And that, like a shot, there will soon rise again, however, but not till the salt melts. The salt, I ejaculated. Hush, said the Captain, pointing to the wife and sister of the deceased, we must talk of these things at some more appropriate time. We suffered much and made a narrow escape, but fortune profended us as well as our mates in the longboat. We landed, in fine, more dead than alive after four days of intense distress, upon the beach opposite Roanoke Island. We remained here a week, were not ill-treated by the Wreckers, and at length obtained a passage to New York. About a month after the loss of the independence I happened to meet Captain Hardy in Broadway. Our conversation turned, naturally, upon the disaster, and especially upon the sad fate of poor Wyatt. I thus learned the following particulars. The artist had engaged passage for himself, wife, two sisters, and a servant. His wife was, indeed, as she had been presented, a most lovely and most accomplished woman. On the morning of the fourteenth of June, the day in which I first visited the ship, the lady suddenly sickened and died. The young husband was frantic with grief, but circumstances imperatively forbade the deferring of his voyage to New York. It was necessary to take to her mother the corpse of his adored wife, and on the other hand the universal prejudice which would prevent his doing so, openly, was well known. Nine tenths of the passengers would have abandoned the ship rather than take passage with a dead body. In this dilemma Captain Hardy arranged that the corpse, being first partially embalmed and packed with a large quantity of salt in a box of suitable dimensions, should be conveyed on board as merchandise. Nothing was to be said of the lady's decease, and as it was well understood that Mr. Wyatt had engaged passage for his wife, it became necessary that some person should personate her during the voyage. This, the deceased lady's maid, was easily prevailed on to do. The extra state room, originally engaged for this girl, during her mistress's life, was now merely retained. In this state room the Pseudo Wyatt slept, of course, every night. In the daytime she performed, to the best of her ability, the part of her mistress, whose person, it had been carefully ascertained, was unknown to any of the passengers on board. My own mistake arose, naturally enough, through too careless, too inquisitive and too impulsive a temperament, but of late it is the rare thing that I sleep soundly at night. There is a countenance which haunts me, turn as I will. There is an hysterical laugh which will forever ring within my ears. End of The Oblong Box. Recording by Linda Ferguson. The Gold Bug. Many years ago I contracted an intimacy with a Mr. William Legrand. He was of an ancient Huguenot family and had once been wealthy. But a series of misfortunes had reduced him to want. To avoid the mortification consequent upon his disasters he left New Orleans, the city of his forefathers, and took up his residence at Sullivan's Island near Charleston, South Carolina. This island is a very singular one. It consists of little else than the sea-lands, and is about three miles long. Its breath, at no point, exceeds a quarter of a mile. It is separated from the mainland by a scarcely perceptible creek, oozing its way through a wilderness of reeds and slime, a favorite resort of the Marshhen. The vegetation, as might be supposed, is scant, or at least dwarfish. No trees of any magnitude are to be seen. Near the western extremity, where Fort Maltry stands, and where are some miserable-framed buildings teneted during summer by the fugitives from Charleston dust and fever, may be found, indeed, the bristly palmetto. But the whole island, with the exception of this western point, and a line of hard, white beach on the seacoast, is covered with a dense undergrowth of the sweet myrtle so much prized by the horticulturalists of England. The shrub here often attains the height of fifteen or twenty feet, and forms an almost impenetrable coppice, burdening the air with its fragrance. In the inmost recesses of this coppice, not far from the eastern or more remote end of the island, LeGrand had built himself a small hut, which he occupied when I first, by mere accident, made his acquaintance. This soon ripened into friendship, for there was much in the recluse to excite interest and esteem. I found him well educated, with unusual powers of mind, but infected with misanthropy, and subject to perverse moods of alternate enthusiasm and melancholy. He had with him many books, but rarely employed them. His chief amusements were gunning and fishing, or sauntering along the beach, and through the myrtles, inquestive shells, or entomological specimens. His collection of the latter might have been envied by a swammer-dam. In these excursions he was usually accompanied by an old negro called Jupiter, who had been manumitted before the reverses of the family, but who could be induced, neither by threats nor by promises, to abandon what he considered his right of attendance upon the footsteps of his young Massa Will. It is not improbable that the relatives of the Grands, conceiving him to be somewhat unsettled in intellect, had contrived to instill this obscenity into Jupiter, with the view to the supervision and guardianship of the wanderer. The winters in the latitude of Sullivan's Island are seldom very severe, and in the fall of the year it is a rare event indeed when a fire is considered necessary. About the middle of October, 18, blank, there occurred, however, a day of remarkable chilliness. Just before sunset I scrambled my way through the evergreens to the hut of my friend, whom I had not visited for several weeks, my residence being at that time in Charleston a distance of nine miles from the island, while the facilities of passage and repassage were very far behind those of the present day. Upon reaching the hut I rapped, as was my custom, and getting no reply, sought for the key where I knew it was secreted, unlocked the door, and went in. A fine fire was blazing upon the hearth. It was a novelty, and by no means an ungrateful one. I threw off an overcoat, took an armchair by the crackling logs, and awaited patiently the arrival of my hosts. Soon after dark they arrived, and gave me a most cordial welcome. Jupiter, grinning from ear to ear, bustled about to prepare some marsh hens for supper. LeGrand was in one of his fits. How else shall I term them? Of enthusiasm. He had found an unknown bivalve, forming a new genus, and, more than this, he had hunted down and secured, with Jupiter's assistance, a scarab-yes, which he believed to be totally new, but in respect to which he wished to have my opinion on the morrow. And why not tonight? I asked, rubbing my hands over the blaze, and wishing the whole tribe of scarab-ye at the devil. Ah, if I had only known you were here, said LeGrand. But it's so long since I saw you, and how could I foresee that you would pay me a visit this very night of all others? As I was coming home I met Lieutenant G., from the fort, and very foolishly I lent him the bug. So it will be impossible for you to see it until the morning. Stay here tonight, and I will send up down for it at sunrise. It is the loveliest thing in creation. What, sunrise? Nonsense! No, the bug! It is of a brilliant gold collar, about the size of a large hickory nut, with two jet-black spots near one extremity of the back, and another somewhat longer at the other. The antenna are— Day ain't no tin in him, Massa-Will. I keep a tellin' on you. Here interrupted Jupiter. Debug is a ghoul-bug. Solid, every bit him. Inside and all. Set him wing. Never feel half so heavy a bug in my life. Well, suppose it is, Jupp, replied Legrand, somewhat more earnestly, it seemed to me, than the case demanded. Is that any reason for your letting the birds burn? The color—here he turned to me—is really almost enough to warrant Jupiter's idea. You never saw a more brilliant metallic luster than the scales he mitts. But of this you cannot judge till tomorrow. In the meantime, I can give you some idea of the shape. Saying this, he seated himself at a small table, on which were a pen and ink, but no paper. He looked for some in a drawer, but found none. Never mind, he said at length. This will answer. Ante drew from his waistcoat pocket a scrap of what I took to be very dirty full scrap, and made upon it a rough drawing with the pen. While he did this, I retained my seat by the fire, for I was still chilly. When the design was complete, he handed it to me without rising. As I received it, a loud growl was heard, succeeded by a scratching at the door. Jupiter opened it, and a large newfoundland, belonging to Legrand, rushed in, leaped upon my shoulders, and loaded me with caresses, for I had shown him much attention during previous visits. When his gambles were over, I looked at the paper, and, to speak the truth, found myself not a little puzzled at what my friend had depicted. Well, I said, after contemplating it for some minutes. This is a strange scarabess. I must confess, new to me. Never saw anything like it before, unless it was a skull or a death's head. Which, it more nearly resembles than anything else that has come under my observation. A death's head, echoed Legrand. Oh, yes. Well, it has something of that appearance on paper, no doubt. The two of her black spots look like eyes, eh, and the longer one at the bottom like a mouth, and then the shape of the hole is oval. Perhaps so, said I. But, Legrands, I fear you are no artist. I must wait until I see the beetle itself, if I am to form any idea of its personal appearance. Well, I don't know. Said he, a little netdled. I draw tolerably, should do it at least, have had good masters and flutter myself that I am not quite a blockhead. But, my dear fellow, you are joking then, said I. This is a very passable skull, indeed. I may say that it is a very excellent skull, according to the vulgar notions about such specimens of physiology. And your scarabess must be the queer scarabess in the world if it resembles it. Why, we may get up a very thrilling bit of superstition upon this hint. I presume you will call the bug scarabess capit hominus, or something of that kind. There are many similar titles in the natural histories. But what are the antennae you spoke of? The antennae, said Legrands, who seem to be getting unaccountably warm upon the subject. I am sure you must see the antennae. I made them as distinct as they are in the original insect, and I presume that is sufficient. Well, well, I said, perhaps you have. Still I don't see them. As I handed him the paper, without additional remark, not wishing to ruffle his temper, but I was much surprised at the turn affairs had taken. His ill-humour puzzled me, and, as for the drawing of the beetle, there were positively no antennae visible. And the hole did bear a very close resemblance to the ordinary cuts of a death's head. He received the paper very peevishly, and was about to crumple it, apparently, to throw it in the fire, when a casual glance at the design seemed suddenly to rivet his attention. In an instant his face grew violently red, in another, excessively pale. For some minutes he continued to scrutinize the drawing, minutely, where he sat. At length he arose, took a candle from the table, and proceeded to seat himself upon a sea-chest in the farthest corner of the room. Here again he made an anxious examination of the paper, turning it in all directions. He said nothing, however, and his conduct greatly astonished me, yet I thought it prudent not to exacerbate the growing moodiness of his temper by any comments. Presently he took from his coat pocket a wallet, placed the paper carefully in it, and deposited both in a writing desk which he locked. He now grew more composed in his demeanor, but his original air of enthusiasm had quite disappeared. Yet he seemed not so much salky as abstracted. As the evening wore away he became more and more absorbed in reverie, from which no sallies of mine could arouse him. It had been my intention to pass the night at the hut, as I had frequently done before, but seeing my host in this mood I deemed it proper to take leave. He did not press me to remain, but as I departed he shook my hands with even more than his usual cordiality. It was about a month after this, and during the interval I had seen nothing of the grand, when I received a visit at Charleston from his man, Jupiter. I had never seen the Old Negro look so dispirited, and I feared that some serious disaster had befallen my friends. Well, Jep, said I, what is the matter now? How is your master? Why, to speak the truth, Massa, him not so very well as might be. Not well? I am truly sorry to hear it. What does he complain of? Dar, that's it. Him never plain nothing, but him very sick for all that. Very sick! Jupiter, why didn't you say so at once? Is he confined to bed? No, Dar, he ain't. He ain't find nowhere. Dar's just where to shoe-pinch. My mind has got to be very heavy about, poor Massa Will. Jupiter, I should like to understand what it is you are talking about. You say your master is sick. Hasn't he told you what ails him? Why, Massa, taint Wolf while, for to get mad about the matter, Massa Will, say nothing at all, ain't the matter with him. But then what make him go about looking this here way, with his head down, and his shoulders up, and his whites of goose? And, Denny, keep a siphon all the time. Keep a what, Jupiter? Keeps a siphon, with the figures on the slate. Queerest figures I ever did see. I is getting to be scared, I tell you. Have for to keep mighty tight eye upon him, Nivers. Tot a day he give me'd slip, for to sun up, and was gone to whole, all, de-blessed day. I had a big stick ready-cut, for to give him deused good beat when he did come. But I was such a fool that I hadn't to heart at all. He looked so buried poorly. Eh? What? Ah, yes, upon the whole I think you had better not be too severe with a poor fellow. Don't flog him, Jupiter. He can't very well stand it. But you can form no idea of what has occasioned this illness, or rather this change of conduct. Has anything unpleasant happened since I saw you? No, Massa. They ain't been nothing unpleasant since, Den. T'was for, Den, I'm feared. T'was the buried day you was there. How? What do you mean? Why, Massa? I mean de-bug, there now. The what? De-bug. I'm buried, Sarton. That Massa will been bit somewhere about the head by that ghoul-bug. And what cause have you, Jupiter, for such a supposition? Claws enough, Massa. And mouth too. I never did see such a de-used bug. He kick and he bite every ting what come near him. Massa will cauch him fuss. But had for to let him go again mighty quick. I tell you, Den was the time he must had got to bite. I didn't like to look up to bug-mouth myself, know-how, so I wouldn't take hold of him with my finger. But I cauch him with a piece of paper that I found. I wrap him up into paper and stuff a piece of it in his mouth. That was de-way. And you think, then, that your master was really bitten by the beetle, and that the beetle made him sick? I don't think nothing about it. I know it. What make him dream about to ghoul so much, if Taint calls he bit by the ghoul-bug? I's hear about them ghoul-bugs for dis. But how do you know he dreams about ghouls? How I know? Why, cause he talk about it any sleep. That's how I know. Well, Dup, perhaps you are right. But to what fortunate circumstance am I to attribute the honour of a visit from you to-day? What de-mad a Massa? Did you bring any message from Mr. LeGrand? No, Massa. I bring this here-pizzle. And here Jupiter handed me a note which ran thus. My dear Blank, why have I not seen you for so long a time? I hope you have not been so foolish as to take offence at any little brusquery of mine. But no, that is improbable. Since I saw you I have had great cause for anxiety. I have something to tell you, yet scarcely know how to tell it, or whether I should tell it at all. I have not been quite well for some days past, and poor old Dup annoys me, almost beyond endurance, by his well-meant attentions. Would you believe it, he had prepared a huge stick the other day with which to chastise me for giving him the slip and spending the day, solace, among the hills on the mainland. I verily believe that my ill looks alone saved me from a flogging. I have made no addition to my cabinet since we met. If you can in any way make it convenient, come over with Jupiter. Do come. I wish to see you tonight, upon business of importance. I assure you that it is of the highest importance. Ever yours, William Legrands. There was something in the tone of this note which gave me great uneasiness. Its whole style differed materially from that of Legrands. What could he be dreaming of? What new crotchet possessed his excitable brain? What business of the highest importance could he possibly have to transact? Jupiter's account of him boated no good. I dreaded lest the continued pressure of misfortune had, at length, fairly unsettled the reason of my friends. Without a moment's hesitation, therefore, I prepared to accompany the Negro. Upon reaching the wharf I noticed a skyth and three spades, all apparently new, laying in the bottom of the boat in which we were to embark. What is the meaning of all this, Jupp, I inquired? Him siph, Massa, and spade. Very true, but what are they doing here? Him to siph and to spade, what Massa will, cispon me by and for him into town, and the devils own lot of money I had to give for him. But what, in the name of all that is mysterious, is your Massa will going to do with skies and spades? That's more than I know, and devil take me, if I don't believe, to his more than he know too. But it's all come of debug. Finding that no satisfaction was to be obtained of Jupiter, whose whole intellect seemed to be absorbed by debug, I now stepped into the boat and made sail. With a fair and strong breeze we soon ran into the little cove to the northward of Fort Moultrie, and a walk of some two miles brought us to the hut. It was about three in the afternoon when we arrived. Legrand had been awaiting us in eager expectation. He grasped my hand with a nervous impressment which alarmed me and strengthened the suspicions already entertained. His countenance was pale, even to gasliness, and his deep-set eyes glared with unnatural luster. After some inquiries, respecting his health, I asked him, not knowing what better to say, if he had yet obtained the scarabess from Lieutenant G. Oh yes, he replied, colouring violently. I got it from him the next morning. Nothing should tempt me to part with that scarabess. Do you know that Jupiter is quite right about it? In what way? I asked, with a sad foreboding at heart. In supposing it to be a bug of real gold. He said this with an air of profound seriousness, and I felt inexpressibly shocked. This bug is to make my fortune, he continued with a triumphant smile, to reinstate me in my family possessions. Is it any wonder, then, that I prize it? Since fortune has thought, fit to bestow it upon me, I have only to use it properly, and I shall arrive at the gold of which it is the index. Jupiter, bring me that scarabess. What? The bug-massa? I'd rather not go for trouble that bug. You must give him for your own self. Hereupon the grand rose, with a grave and stately air, and brought me the beetle from a glass case in which it was enclosed. It was a beautiful scarabess, and at that time, unknown to naturalists, of course a great prize in the scientific point of view. There were two round black spots near one extremity of the back, and along one near the other. The scales were exceedingly hard and glossy, with all the appearance of burnished golds. The weight of the insect was very remarkable, and, taking all things into consideration, I could hardly blame Jupiter for his opinion respecting it. But what to make of LeGrand's concordance with that opinion I could not, for the life of me, tell. I sent for you, said he, in a grand deliquent tone, when I had completed my examination of the beetle, I sent for you that I might have your counsel and assistance in furthering the views of fates and of the bug. My dear LeGrand, I cried, interrupting him, you are certainly unwell, and had bettered you some little precautions. You shall go to bed, and I will remain with you a few days until you get over this. You are feverish, and feel my pulse, said he. I felt it, and, to say the truth, found not the slightest indication of fever. But you may be ill and yet have no fever. Allow me this once to prescribe for you. In the first place, go to bed. In the next, You are mistaken, he interposed. I am as well as I can expect to be, under the excitement which I suffer. If you really wish me well, you will relieve this excitement. And how was this to be done? Very easily. Jupiter and myself are going upon an expedition into the hills, upon the mainland, and in this expedition we shall need the aid of some person in whom we can confide. You are the only one we can trust. Whether we succeed or fail, the excitement which you now perceive in me will be equally elade. I am anxious to oblige you in any way, I replied. But do you mean to say that this infernal beetle has any connection with your expedition into the hills? It has. Then, LeGrand, I can become a party to know such absurd proceeding. I am sorry, very sorry, for we shall have to try it by ourselves. Try it by yourselves, the man is surely mad. But stay. How long do you propose to be absent? Probably all night. We shall start immediately, and be back at all events, by sunrise. And will you promise me, upon your honour, that when this freak of yours is over, and the bug business, good God, settled to your satisfaction, you will then return home and follow my advice implicitly, as that of your physician? Yes, I promise. And now let us be off, for we have no time to lose. With a heavy heart I accompanied my friends. We started about four o'clock. LeGrand, Jupiter, the dog, and myself. Jupiter had with him the skies and spades, the whole of which he insisted upon carrying. More through fear, it seemed to me, of trusting either of the implements within reach of his master than from any excess of industry or complacence. His demeanor was dogged in the extreme, and that deused bug were the sole words which escaped his lips during the journey. For my own part I had charge of a couple of dark lanterns, while LeGrand contended himself with the scarabess, which he carried attached to the ends of a bit of whip-cord, swirling it to and fro with the air of a conjurer as he went. When I observed this last, plain evidence of my friend's aberration of mind, I could scarcely refrain from tears. I thought it best, however, to humor his fancy, at least for the present, or until I could adopt some more energetic measures with a chance of success. In the meantime I endeavored, but all in vain, to sound him in regard to the object of the expedition. Having succeeded in inducing me to accompany him, he seemed unwilling to hold conversation upon any topic of minor importance, and, to all my questions, vouchsafed no other reply than, We shall see. We crossed the creek at the head of the islands by means of a skiff, and, ascending the high grounds on the shore of the mainland, proceeded in a north-westerly direction, through a tract of country excessively wild and desolate, where no trace of a human footstep was to be seen. Le Grand led the way with decision, pausing only for an instant here and there, to consult what appeared to be certain landmarks of his own contrivance upon a former occasion. In this manner we journeyed for about two hours, and the sun was just setting when we entered a region infinitely more dreary than any yet seen. It was a species of table-lands, near the summit of an almost inaccessible hill, densely wooded from base to pinnacle, and interspersed with huge crags that appeared to lie loosely upon the soil, and, in many cases, were prevented from precipitating themselves into the valleys below, merely by the support of the trees, against which they reclines. Deep ravines, in various directions, gave an air of still-sternor solemnity to the scene. The natural platform to which we had clamored was thickly overgrown with brambles, through which we soon discovered that it would have been impossible to force our way but for the skies, and Jupiter, by direction of his master, proceeded to clear for us a path to the foot of an enormously tall tulip tree, which stood with some eight or ten oaks upon the level, and far surpassed them all, and all other trees which I had ever seen, in the beauty of its foliage and form, in the wide spread of its branches, and in the general majesty of its appearance. When we reached this tree Le Grand turned to Jupiter, and asked him if he thought he could climb it. The old man seemed a little staggered by the question, and for some moments made no reply. At length he approached the huge trunk, walked slowly around it, and examined it with minute attention. When he had completed his scrutiny he merely said, Yes, Massa, jump-climb many trees he ever see in his life. Then up with you as soon as possible, for it will soon be too dark to see what we are about. How far must go up, Massa? Enquired Jupiter. Get up the main trunk first, and then I will tell you which way to go, and here, stop, take this beetle with you. Debug, Massa Will, de-goo-bug! cried the negro, drawing back a dismay. What form must to debug way up the tree? D. N., if I do. If you are afraid, jump, a great big negro like you, to take hold of a harmless little dead beetle, why, you can carry it up by this string. But if you do not take it up with you in some way, I shall be under the necessity of breaking your head with this shovel. What to matter now, Massa? said jump, evidently shamed into compliance. Always want for to raise fuss with old nigger. Was only fun in any how, me fear debug, what I cared for debug. Here he took cautiously hold of the extreme end of the string, and, maintaining the insect, as far from his person as circumstances would permit, prepared to ascend the tree. In youth, the tulip tree, or lyriodendron tulipferum, the most magnificent of American foresters, has a trunk peculiarly smooth, and often rises to a great height without lateral branches. But, in its ripe age, the bark becomes gnarled and uneven, while many short limbs make their appearance on the stem. Thus the difficulty of ascension, in the present case, lay more in semblance than in reality. Embracing the huge cylinder as closely as possible, with his arms and knees, seizing with his hands some projections, and resting his naked toes upon others, Jupiter, after one or two narrow escapes from falling, at length wriggled himself into the first great fork, and seemed to consider the whole business as virtually accomplished. The risk of the achievement was, in fact, now over, although the climber was some sixty or seventy feet from the grounds. Which way must go now, Massa Will? he asked. Keep up the largest branch, the one on this side, said the grand. The negro obeyed him promptly, and apparently, with but little trouble, ascending higher and higher, until no glimpse of his squat figure could be obtained through the dense foliage which enveloped it. Presently his voice was heard in a sort of hallow. How much fodder is got for go? How high up are you? asked the grand. Ever so fur, replied the negro, can see the sky through the top of the tree. Never mind the sky, but attend to what I say. Look down the trunk and count the limbs below you on this side. How many limbs have you passed? One, two, three, four, five. I dumb-pass five big limb, Massa, upon this side. Then go one limb higher. In a few minutes the voice was heard again, announcing that the seventh limb was attained. Now jump! cried the grand, evidently much excited. I want you to work your way out upon that limb as far as you can. If you see anything strange, let me know. By this time what little doubt I might have entertained of my poor friend's insanity was finally put at rest. I had no alternative but to conclude him stricken with lunacy, and I became seriously anxious about getting him home. While I was pondering upon what was best to be done, Jupiter's voice was again heard. Mass feared for to venture upon this limb very far, to his dead limb pretty much all the way. Did you say it was a dead limb, Jupiter? cried the grand in a quavering voice. Yes, Massa, him dead as the doornail done up for Sardin done departed this year life. What in the name of heaven shall I do? asked the grand, seemingly in the greatest distress. Do, said I, glad of an opportunity to interpose a word. Why come home and go to bed? Now there's a fine fellow, it's getting late, and besides you remember your promise. Jupiter cried he without heeding me in the least. Do you hear me? Yes, Massa will hear you ever so plain. Try the wood well then with your knife and see if you think it is very rotten. Him rotten Massa, sure enough, replied the negro in a few moments. But not so very rotten as might be. Might venture out little way from the limb by myself, that's true. By yourself, what do you mean? Why, I mean to bug. Dis bear a heavy bug. Suppose I drop him down fuss and then the limb won't break with just a weight of one nigger. You infernal scoundrel, cried the grand, apparently much relieved. What do you mean by telling me such nonsense as that? As sure as you drop that beetle I'll break your neck. Look here Jupiter, do you hear me? Yes, Massa, needn't hollow out poor nigger that style. Well now listen, if you will venture out on the limb as far as you think safe and not let go the beetle, I'll make you a present of a silver dollar as soon as you get down. I'm going, Massa will. Did I is? replied the negro very promptly. Most out to the end now. Out to the end? Here, fairly screamed the grand. Do you say you are out to the end of the limb? Soon be to the end, Massa. Oh, locala Massa, what is this here upon a tree? Well, cried the grand, highly delighted. What is it? What, taint nothing but a skull? Somebody been left him head up to tree, and a crow's done gobble every bit up to meet off. A skull, you say? Very well, how is it fastened to the limb? What holds it on? Sure enough, Massa, must look. Why, this very curious circumstance pump my word. There's a great big nail in the skull, what fastened Zabit on to the tree. Well now, Jupiter, do exactly as I tell you, do you hear? Yes, Massa. Pay attention then, find the left eye of the skull. Hum, ho, that's good, why, there ain't no eye left at all. Curse your stupidity, do you know your right hand from your left? Yes, I know's that, knows all about that. Tis my left hand which I chops to wood with. To be sure, you are left-handed, and your left eye is on the same side as your left hand. Now, I suppose you can find the left eye of the skull, or the place where the left eye has been. Have you found it? Here was a long pause. At length, the Negro asked, is the left eye of the skull on the same side as the left hand of the skull too? Curse the skull ain't got not a bit of a hand at all. Never mind. I got the left eye now. Here, the left eye, what must I do with it? Let the beetle drop through it, as far as the string will reach. But be careful and not let go your hold of the string. All that done, Massa will, might a easy ting, for to put the bug through the hole. Look out for him there below. During this colliquy, no portion of Jupiter's person could be seen. But the beetle, which he had suffered to descend, was now visible at the end of the string, and glistened like a globe of burnished gold in the last rays of the setting sun, some of which still faintly illumined the eminence upon which we stood. The scarabus hung quite clear of any branches, and, if a lounge of fall, would have fallen at our feet. Legrand immediately took the sky, and cleared with it a circular space, three or four yards in diameter, just beneath the insect, and having accomplished this ordered Jupiter to let go the string and come down from the tree. Driving a peg, with great nicety, into the ground, at the precise spot where the beetle fell, my friend now produced from his pocket a tape measure. Fastening one end of this at that point, of the trunk of the tree, which was nearest the peg, he unrolled it, till it reached the peg, and then further unrolled it, in the direction already established by the two points of the tree and the peg, for the distance of fifty feet. Jupiter clearing away the brambles with the sky. At the spot thus attained a second peg was driven, and about this, as a center, a rude circle, about four feet in diameter, described. Now, taking a spade himself, and giving one to Jupiter and one to me, Legrand begged us to set about digging as quickly as possible. To speak the truth I had no special relish for such amusement at any time, and at that particular moment would willingly have declined it, for the night was coming on, and I felt much fatigued with the exercise already taken, but I saw no motive escape, and was fearful of disturbing my poor friend's equanimity by refusal. Could I have depended, indeed, upon Jupiter's aid, I would have had no hesitation in attempting to get the lunatic home by force, but I was too well assured of the old Negro's disposition, to hope that he would assist me, under any circumstances, in a personal contest with his master. I made no doubt that the latter had been infected with some of the innumerable southern superstitions about money buried, and that his fantasy had received confirmation by the finding of the Scarabess, or perhaps by Jupiter's obstancy in maintaining it to be a bug of real gold. A mind disposed to lunacy would readily be led away by such suggestions, especially if chiming in with favorite preconceived ideas, and then I called to mind the poor fellow's speech about the Beatles being the index of his fortune. Upon the whole I was sadly vexed and puzzled, but at length I concluded to make a virtue of necessity, to dig with a good will, and thus the sooner to convince the visionary by ocular demonstration of the fallacy of the opinion he entertained. The lanterns having been lit, we all fell to work with a zeal where they are more rational cause, and as the glare fell upon our persons and implements I could not help thinking how picturesque a group we composed, and how strange and suspicious our labors must have appeared to any interloper who, by chance, might have stumbled upon our whereabouts. We dug very subtly for two hours. Little was said, and our chief embarrassment lay in the yelping of the dog, who took exceeding interest in our proceedings. He, at length, became so obstreperous that we grew fearful of his giving the alarm to some stragglers in the vicinity, or rather this was the apprehension of the grand. For myself I should have rejoiced at any interruption, which might have enabled me to get the wanderer home. The noise was, at any length, very effectually silenced by Jupiter, who, getting out of the hole with the dogged air of deliberation, tied the brood's mouth up with one of his suspenders, and then returned with a grave chuckle to his task. When the time mentioned had expired, we had reached a depth of five feet, and yet no signs of any treasure became manifest. A general pause ensued, and I began to hope that the farce was at an end. The grand, however, although evidently much disconcerted, waved his brow thoughtfully and recommenced. We had excavated the entire circle of four feet diameter, and now we slightly enlarge the limit, and went to the farther depth of two feet. Still nothing appeared. The gold-seeker, whom I sincerely pitied, at length clamoured from the pit with a bitterest disappointment imprinted upon every feature, and proceeded, slowly and reluctantly, to put on his coat, which he had thrown off at the beginning of his labour. In the meantime I made no remark. Jupiter, at a signal from his master, began to gather up his tools. This done, and the dog having been unmuzzled, we turned in profound silence toward home. We had taken perhaps a dozen steps in this direction when, with a loud oath, Legrand strode up to Jupiter and seized him by the colour. The astonished Negro opened his eyes and mouth to the fullest extent, let fall the spades, and fell upon his knees. You scoundrel, said Legrand, hissing out the syllables from between his clenched teeth. You infernal black villain, speak, I tell you, answer me this instant, without prevercation. Which? Which is your left eye? Oh my golly, Massa-Will, ain't dishear my left eye for Satan? Roared the terrified Jupiter, placing his hand upon his right organ of vision, and holding it there with a desperate pertinency, as if in immediate dread of his master's attempt at a gouge. I thought so. I knew it. Hurrah! Vesif raided Legrand, letting the Negro go and executing a series of curvits and carcels, much to the astonishment of his valet, who, arising from his knees, looked mutely from his master to myself, and then from myself to his master. Come, we must go back, said the latter, the game's not up yet. And he again led the way to the tulip tree. Jupiter, said he, when we reached its foot. Come here, was the skull nailed to the limb with a face outward or with a face to the limb? The face was out, Massa, so dantic rose could get at the eyes good without any trouble. Well then, was it this eye or that through which you dropped the beetle? Here Legrand touched each of Jupiter's eyes. It was this eye, Massa, the left eye, just you tell me, and here it was, his right eye, that the Negro indicated. That will do. We must try it again. End of section 10. Recording by Katie Riley, October 2009.