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Article THE BRASS THUMB. ← Page 7 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Brass Thumb.
wards . Severe , nay , savage , as were his lineaments , there was a simplicity and grace in the statue which deeply interested . Hans mounted the quaint old pedestal , which had three stages . The moonlight fell bluely around him , and pallidly was reflected from the front of this equivocal dignitarywhose handsand feetand mitreancl beard of ancient
, , , , brass , shone dull in the wizard light . The wakeful stars above , in the quiet and the loneliness , seemed to Hans ' s excited mind the myriad candles to a strange worship in which he was to partake . He and the shadows were as the only life in the whole still world . " This will never do" said Hans to himself . " I must not
, look , but act ; and , now that that convenient cloud has passed like a veil over Diana ' s face , I will make an end of this matter , and possess myself of the brass thumb . " Hans stepped up upon some of the chiselled scrolls of the ancient acroterium , and grasped the brass hand of the spectral Piebald .
" The thumb , though all is rotten enough , sticks fast . Methought an effort might have broken it off . Stay;—these metal appendages are generally mere adjuncts to the stone of the statue . Suppose I unscrew the whole hand , and give this child Leuchidde , instead of the thumb only , verily the saint ' s entire brass hand ?"
Hans had great difficulty in unscrewing the hand . The stone wrist was harsh and dry , the brass hand whined and shrieked in his frightened attempts to unscrew it . He trembled with fright , and often desisted ; now for fear of discovery , —now through dread at his sacrilegious action , for he thought the outraged figure had frowned at him . At last , in a new attempt , the screw slid , and the brass hand was like lead in his own shaking and guilty hand .
To thrust it in his bosom was the work of a moment , to descend from the steps was that of another . But what was Hans ' s dismay , when he touched ground , and saw , lying along under the statue , the figure of a live man . ' Propped up with his back against the base of St . Piebald ' s effigy , his hat lying beside him , g . nd his ample cloak folded ancl spread out as a
comfortable cushion , was an old Dutch gentleman with the most comical visage in the world , at this moment a mixture of reproving gravity and helpless fun , evidently the result of vinous excess . " By the Five Fat Burgesses , but this is a dreadful business ! " said Hans . " Let me look ! As I am a sinful man ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Brass Thumb.
wards . Severe , nay , savage , as were his lineaments , there was a simplicity and grace in the statue which deeply interested . Hans mounted the quaint old pedestal , which had three stages . The moonlight fell bluely around him , and pallidly was reflected from the front of this equivocal dignitarywhose handsand feetand mitreancl beard of ancient
, , , , brass , shone dull in the wizard light . The wakeful stars above , in the quiet and the loneliness , seemed to Hans ' s excited mind the myriad candles to a strange worship in which he was to partake . He and the shadows were as the only life in the whole still world . " This will never do" said Hans to himself . " I must not
, look , but act ; and , now that that convenient cloud has passed like a veil over Diana ' s face , I will make an end of this matter , and possess myself of the brass thumb . " Hans stepped up upon some of the chiselled scrolls of the ancient acroterium , and grasped the brass hand of the spectral Piebald .
" The thumb , though all is rotten enough , sticks fast . Methought an effort might have broken it off . Stay;—these metal appendages are generally mere adjuncts to the stone of the statue . Suppose I unscrew the whole hand , and give this child Leuchidde , instead of the thumb only , verily the saint ' s entire brass hand ?"
Hans had great difficulty in unscrewing the hand . The stone wrist was harsh and dry , the brass hand whined and shrieked in his frightened attempts to unscrew it . He trembled with fright , and often desisted ; now for fear of discovery , —now through dread at his sacrilegious action , for he thought the outraged figure had frowned at him . At last , in a new attempt , the screw slid , and the brass hand was like lead in his own shaking and guilty hand .
To thrust it in his bosom was the work of a moment , to descend from the steps was that of another . But what was Hans ' s dismay , when he touched ground , and saw , lying along under the statue , the figure of a live man . ' Propped up with his back against the base of St . Piebald ' s effigy , his hat lying beside him , g . nd his ample cloak folded ancl spread out as a
comfortable cushion , was an old Dutch gentleman with the most comical visage in the world , at this moment a mixture of reproving gravity and helpless fun , evidently the result of vinous excess . " By the Five Fat Burgesses , but this is a dreadful business ! " said Hans . " Let me look ! As I am a sinful man ,