In the Penal Colony | Page 5

were successful. We didn't spare
any efforts. And now, as the inscription is made on the body, everyone
can see through the glass. Don't you want to come closer and see the
needles for yourself."
The Traveler stood slowly, moved up, and bent over the harrow. "You

see," the Officer said, "two sorts of needles in a multiple arrangement.
Each long needle has a short one next to it. The long one inscribes, and
the short one squirts water out to wash away the blood and keep the
inscription always clear. The bloody water is then channeled here in
small grooves and finally flows into these main gutters, and the outlet
pipe takes it to the pit." The officer pointed with his finger to the exact
path which the bloody water had to take. As he began to demonstrate
with both hands at the mouth of the outlet pipe, in order to make his
account as clear as possible, the Traveler raised his head and, feeling
behind him with his hand, wanted to return to his chair. Then he saw to
his horror that the Condemned Man had also, like him, accepted the
Officer's invitation to inspect the arrangement of the harrow up close.
He had pulled the sleeping Soldier holding the chain a little forward
and was also bending over the glass. One could see how with a
confused gaze he also was looking for what the two gentlemen had just
observed, but how he didn't succeed because he lacked the explanation.
He leaned forward this way and that. He kept running his eyes over the
glass again and again. The Traveler wanted to push him back, for what
he was doing was probably punishable. But the Officer held the
Traveler firmly with one hand, and with the other he took a lump of
earth from the wall and threw it at the Soldier. The latter opened his
eyes with a start, saw what the Condemned Man had dared to do, let his
weapon fall, braced his heels in the earth, and pulled the Condemned
Man back, so that he immediately collapsed. The Soldier looked down
at him, as he writhed around, making his chain clink. "Stand him up,"
cried the Officer. Then he noticed that the Condemned Man was
distracting the Traveler too much. The latter was even leaning out away
from the harrow, without paying any attention to it, wanting to find out
what was happening to the Condemned Man. "Handle him carefully,"
the Officer yelled again. He ran around the apparatus, personally
grabbed the Condemned Man under the armpits and, with the help of
the Soldier, stood the man, whose feet kept slipping, upright.
"Now I know all about it," said the Traveler, as the Officer turned back
to him again. "Except the most important thing," said the latter,
grabbing the Traveler by the arm and pointing up high. "There in the
inscriber is the mechanism which determines the movement of the

harrow, and this mechanism is arranged according to the diagram on
which the sentence is set down. I still use the diagrams of the previous
Commandant. Here they are." He pulled some pages out of the leather
folder. "Unfortunately I can't hand them to you. They are the most
cherished thing I possess. Sit down, and I'll show you them from this
distance. Then you'll be able to see it all well." He showed the first
sheet. The Traveler would have been happy to say something
appreciative, but all he saw was a labyrinthine series of lines,
criss-crossing each other in all sort of ways. These covered the paper so
thickly that only with difficulty could one make out the white spaces in
between. "Read it," said the Officer. "I can't," said the Traveler. "But
it's clear," said the Officer." "It's very elaborate," said the Traveler
evasively, "but I can't decipher it."
"Yes," said the Officer, smiling and putting the folder back again, "it's
not calligraphy for school children. One has to read it a long time. You
too will finally understand it clearly. Of course, it has to be a script that
isn't simple. You see, it's not supposed to kill right away, but on
average over a period of twelve hours. The turning point is set for the
sixth hour. There must also be many, many embellishments
surrounding the basic script. The essential script moves around the
body only in a narrow belt. The rest of the body is reserved for
decoration. Can you now appreciate the work of the harrow and the
whole apparatus? Just look at it!" He jumped up the ladder, turned a
wheel, and called down, "Watch out -- move to the side!" Everything
started moving. If the wheel had not squeaked, it would have been
marvelous. The officer threatened