In the Penal Colony | Page 2

alter anything of the old plan, at least not for several years.
And our prediction has held. The New Commandant has had to
recognize that. It's a shame that you didn't know the previous
Commandant!"
"However," the Officer said, interrupting himself, "I'm chattering, and
his apparatus stands here in front of us. As you see, it consists of three
parts. With the passage of time certain popular names have been
developed for each of these parts. The one underneath is called the bed,
the upper one is called the inscriber, and here in the middle, this
moving part is called the harrow." "The harrow?" the Traveler asked.
He had not been listening with full attention. The sun was excessively
strong, trapped in the shadowless valley, and one could hardly collect
one's thoughts. So the Officer appeared to him all the more admirable
in his tight tunic weighed down with epaulettes and festooned with
braid, ready to go on parade, as he explained the matter so eagerly and,
while he was talking, adjusted screws here and there with a
screwdriver.
The Soldier appeared to be in a state similar to the Traveler. He had
wound the Condemned Man's chain around both his wrists and was
supporting himself with his hand on his weapon, letting his head hang
backward, not bothering about anything. The Traveler was not
surprised at that, for the Officer spoke French, and clearly neither the
Soldier nor the Condemned Man understood the language. So it was all
the more striking that the Condemned Man, in spite of that, did what he
could to follow the Officer's explanation. With a sort of sleepy
persistence he kept directing his gaze to the place where the Officer had
just pointed, and when the question from the Traveler interrupted the
Officer, the Condemned Man looked at the Traveler, too, just as the
Officer was doing.
"Yes, the harrow," said the Officer. "The name fits. The needles are

arranged as in a harrow, and the whole thing is driven like a harrow,
although it stays in one place and is, in principle, much more artistic.
You'll understand in a moment. The condemned is laid out here on the
bed. First, I'll describe the apparatus and only then let the procedure go
to work. That way you'll be able to follow it better. Also a sprocket in
the inscriber is excessively worn. It really squeaks. When it's in motion
one can hardly make oneself understood. Unfortunately replacement
parts are difficult to come by in this place. So, here is the bed, as I said.
The whole thing is completely covered with a layer of cotton wool, the
purpose of which you'll find out in a moment. The condemned man is
laid out on his stomach on the cotton wool -- naked, of course. There
are straps for the hands here, for the feet here, and for the throat here, to
tie him in securely. At the head of the bed here, where the man, as I
have mentioned, first lies face down, is this small protruding lump of
felt, which can easily be adjusted so that it presses right into the man's
mouth. Its purpose is to prevent him screaming and biting his tongue to
pieces. Of course, the man has to let the felt in his mouth -- otherwise
the straps around his throat would break his neck." "That's cotton
wool?" asked the Traveler and bent down. "Yes, it is," said the Officer
smiling, "feel it for yourself."
He took the Traveler's hand and led him over to the bed. "It's a
specially prepared cotton wool. That's why it looks so unrecognizable.
I'll get around to mentioning its purpose in a moment." The Traveler
was already being won over a little to the apparatus. With his hand over
his eyes to protect them from the sun, he looked at the apparatus in the
hole. It was a massive construction. The bed and the inscriber were the
same size and looked like two dark chests. The inscriber was set about
two metres above the bed, and the two were joined together at the
corners by four brass rods, which almost reflected the sun. The harrow
hung between the chests on a band of steel.
The Officer had hardly noticed the earlier indifference of the Traveler,
but he did have a sense now of how the latter's interest was being
aroused for the first time. So he paused in his explanation in order to
allow the Traveler time to observe the apparatus undisturbed. The
Condemned Man imitated the Traveler, but since he could not put his

hand over his eyes, he blinked upward with his eyes uncovered.
"So now the man is lying down," said the Traveler. He leaned back in
his chair and crossed his legs.