At this instant
Brown, collecting all his energies for one desperate effort, sprang at
once into the centre of the cloud, tore it asunder, and descended to
the ground, exclaiming, with a hoarse, furious voice that grated on my
ear, 'There, I've got out; dam'me if I haven't!' This was the first
word that had been spoken through the whole horrible scene. It was the
first time I had ever seen a cloud fail to produce its appropriate
result, and it terrified me so that I trembled from head to foot. The
devils, however, did not seem to be in the least discouraged. One of
them, who seemed to be the leader, went away and quickly returned
bringing with him an enormous pair of rollers fixed in an iron frame,
such as are used in iron-mills for the purpose of rolling out and
slitting bars of iron, except instead of being turned by machinery,
each roller was turned by an immense crank. Three of the devils now
seized Brown and put his feet to the rollers, while two others stood,
one at each crank, and began to roll him in with a steady strain that
was entirely irresistible. Not a word was spoken, not a sound was
heard; but the fearful struggles and terrified, agonizing looks of
Brown were more than I could endure. I sprang from my bed and ran
through the kitchen into the room where my parents slept, and
entreated that they would permit me to spend the remainder of the
night with them.
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