
I crouched in the darkness, terrified.
I felt the collar again. It was closed by means of a heavy lock, part of the collar itself. It would thus,
presumably, respond to a key. The cuffs and anklets, on the other hand, were quite different. They had
apparently been simply closed about my limbs, closed by some considerable force, perhaps that of a
machine, or even, perhaps, unthinkably primitive though it might seem, by the blows of a hammer on an
anvil. They were of flat, heavy, straplike metal. They had no hinges. Perhaps they had begun as partly
opened circles into which my limbs had been thrust, circles which had then been, by some means, closed
about my limbs, confining them. They did not have hinges. There was no sign of a place for the insertion
of a key. They clasped me well. It would be impossible to remove them without tools. I could thus be
freed from the collar, and the wall, quite simply, by means of the key. I could not be rid so simply, of
course, of my other bonds. This suggested to me that I might be, in the near future, removed from this
place, but that no similar indulgence might be expected with respect to my other bonds. I wondered who
held the key to my collar. I suspected that it might be merely one of many keys, or, perhaps, a key to
many similar locks. It would doubtless be held by a subordinate, or agent. The key to a collar such as
mine, I suspected, would not be likely to be held personally by anyone of importance. The will by the rule
of which, by the decision of which, I, and perhaps others, might be confined would doubtless be remote
from the instrumentalities by means of which the dictates of that will would be enacted. As far as I knew I
did not have any enemies, and I did not believe that I had ever, really, truly offended anyone. I
suspected, accordingly, that what had happened to me was in its nature not personal, at all, but was,
rather, objective and, in its way, perhaps quite impersonal. Accordingly, although I did not doubt that I
was here because of something about me, perhaps because of some properties or other, and thusly,
doubtlessly, for some reason, I did not think that the matter really had anything to do with me in a truly
personal sense. I suspected it had to do rather with a kind, or a sort, of which kind, or sort, I was
presumably an example.
What had become of me? What was I now? I dared not conjecture, but knew.
The place where I was damp, and cold. I did not wish to be there. I did not want to be in such a place. I
heard water dripping from somewhere, probably from the ceiling. I felt about, in the darkness. Near me,
as I brushed aside straw, I discovered two shallow, bowl-like depressions in the floor. My fingers
touched water in one. In the other there was something like a bit of damp meal, surely no more than a
handful, and a curl of something, like a damp crust.
I lay back down, in the damp straw, on my right side. I pulled up my knees, and put my head on the
back of my left hand.
I would certainly not drink from such a source, nor eat from such a place.
I pulled a little at the chain, that attached to the collar on my neck.
I could feel the force, small as it was, transmitted through the chain, to the collar, the collar then drawing
against the back of my neck.
Once footsteps passed, in what I supposed must be a corridor outside. I lay there, very quietly, not
daring to move. I saw, for a moment, as the footsteps passed, a crack of light beneath the door. Until
that time I did not know the location of the door. The light was some form of natural light, that of a
candle, a lamp; a lantern, I did not know. As it passed I saw some of the straw on my side of the door.
The door, as one could tell from the light, it revealing the thickness of the beams, was a heavy one. Also,
along its bottom, reinforcing that portion of the door, one could detect a heavy, bolted band. It seemed
likely, too, of course, that the door might be reinforced similarly at other points. These things, the light,
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