Can Such Things Be?

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Ambrose Bierce. Can Such Things Be?

Can Such Things Be?

Table of Contents

THE DEATH OF HALPIN FRAYSER

I

II

III

IV

THE SECRET OF MACARGER’S GULCH

ONE SUMMER NIGHT

THE MOONLIT ROAD

I. STATEMENT OF JOEL HETMAN, JR

II. STATEMENT OF CASPAR GRATTAN

III. STATEMENT OF THE LATE JULIA HETMAN, THROUGH THE MEDIUM BAYROLLES

A DIAGNOSIS OF DEATH

MOXON’S MASTER

A TOUGH TUSSLE

ONE OF TWINS

THE HAUNTED VALLEY

I. HOW TREES ARE FELLED IN CHINA

II. WHO DRIVES SANE OXEN SHOULD HIMSELF BE SANE

A JUG OF SIRUP

STALEY FLEMING’S HALLUCINATION

A RESUMED IDENTITY

I. THE REVIEW AS A FORM OF WELCOME

II. WHEN YOU HAVE LOST YOUR LIFE CONSULT A PHYSICIAN

III. THE DANGER OF LOOKING INTO A POOL OF WATER

A BABY TRAMP

THE NIGHT-DOINGS AT “DEADMAN’S”

BEYOND THE WALL

A PSYCHOLOGICAL SHIPWRECK

THE MIDDLE TOE OF THE RIGHT FOOT

I

II

III

JOHN MORTONSON’S FUNERAL [252]

THE REALM OF THE UNREAL

I

II

III

IV

V

JOHN BARTINE’S WATCH

THE DAMNED THING

I. ONE DOES NOT ALWAYS EAT WHAT IS ON THE TABLE

II. WHAT MAY HAPPEN IN A FIELD OF WILD OATS

III. A MAN THOUGH NAKED MAY BE IN RAGS

IV. AN EXPLANATION FROM THE TOMB

HAÏTA THE SHEPHERD

AN INHABITANT OF CARCOSA

THE STRANGER

FOOTNOTES

Отрывок из книги

Ambrose Bierce

Published by Good Press, 2019

.....

Here and there among the bushes were small inclosures containing graves, sometimes no more than one. They were recognized as graves by the discolored stones or rotting boards at head and foot, leaning at all angles, some prostrate; by the ruined picket fences surrounding them; or, infrequently, by the mound itself showing its gravel through the fallen leaves. In many instances nothing marked the spot where lay the vestiges of some poor mortal—who, leaving “a large circle of sorrowing friends,” had been left by them in turn—except a depression in the earth, more lasting than that in the spirits of the mourners. The paths, if any paths had been, were long obliterated; trees of a considerable size had been permitted to grow up from the graves and thrust aside with root or branch the inclosing fences. Over all was that air of abandonment and decay which seems nowhere so fit and significant as in a village of the forgotten dead.

As the two men, Jaralson leading, pushed their way through the growth of young trees, that enterprising man suddenly stopped and brought up his shotgun to the height of his breast, uttered a low note of warning, and stood motionless, his eyes fixed upon something ahead. As well as he could, obstructed by brush, his companion, though seeing nothing, imitated the posture and so stood, prepared for what might ensue. A moment later Jaralson moved cautiously forward, the other following.

.....