A Likely Story: "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce

Some loose boards laid upon the sleepers supporting the metals of the railway supplied a footing for him and his executioners--two private soldiers of the Federal army, directed by a sergeant who in civil life may have been a deputy sheriff.

A sentinel at each end of the bridge stood with his rifle in the position known as "support," that is to say, vertical in front of the left shoulder, the hammer resting on the forearm thrown straight across the chest--a formal and unnatural position, enforcing an erect carriage of the body.

The other bank of the stream was open ground--a gentle acclivity topped with a stockade of vertical tree trunks, loopholed for rifles, with a single embrasure through which protruded the muzzle of a brass cannon commanding the bridge.

The other bank of the stream was open ground--a gentle acclivity topped with a stockade of vertical tree trunks, loopholed for rifles, with a single embrasure through which protruded the muzzle of a brass cannon commanding the bridge.

The captain stood with folded arms, silent, observing the work of his subordinates, but making no sign.

Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him.

Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him.

In the code of military etiquette silence and fixity are forms of deference.

In the code of military etiquette silence and fixity are forms of deference.

How slowly it appeared to move, What a sluggish stream!

Its recurrence was regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death knell.

Its recurrence was regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death knell.

He awaited each stroke with impatience and--he knew not why--apprehension.

Circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking service with the gallant army that had fought the disastrous campaigns ending with the fall of Corinth, and he chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction.

Circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking service with the gallant army that had fought the disastrous campaigns ending with the fall of Corinth, and he chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction.

No service was too humble for him to perform in aid of the South, no adventure too perilous for him to undertake if consistent with the character of a civilian who was at heart a soldier, and who in good faith and without too much qualification assented to at least a part of the frankly villainous dictum that all is fair in love and war.

One evening while Farquhar and his wife were sitting on a rustic bench near the entrance to his grounds, a gray-clad soldier rode up to the gate and asked for a drink of water.

"The Yanks are repairing the railroads," said the man, "and are getting ready for another advance. They have reached the Owl Creek bridge, put it in order and built a stockade on the north bank. The commandant has issued an order, which is posted everywhere, declaring that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels or trains will be summarily hanged. I saw the order."

He thanked her ceremoniously, bowed to her husband and rode away.

Keen, poignant agonies seemed to shoot from his neck downward through every fiber of his body and limbs.

These pains appeared to flash along well-defined lines of ramification and to beat with an inconceivably rapid periodicity.

They seemed like streams of pulsating fire heating him to an intolerable temperature.

The intellectual part of his nature was already effaced; he had power only to feel, and feeling was torment.

Encompassed in a luminous cloud, of which he was now merely the fiery heart, without material substance, he swung through unthinkable arcs of oscillation, like a vast pendulum.

Encompassed in a luminous cloud, of which he was now merely the fiery heart, without material substance, he swung through unthinkable arcs of oscillation, like a vast pendulum.

Encompassed in a luminous cloud, of which he was now merely the fiery heart, without material substance, he swung through unthinkable arcs of oscillation, like a vast pendulum.

Encompassed in a luminous cloud, of which he was now merely the fiery heart, without material substance, he swung through unthinkable arcs of oscillation, like a vast pendulum.

To die of hanging at the bottom of a river!--the idea seemed to him ludicrous.

He was not conscious of an effort, but a sharp pain in his wrist apprised him that he was trying to free his hands.

They tore it away and thrust it fiercely aside, its undulations resembling those of a water snake.

He felt his head emerge; his eyes were blinded by the sunlight; his chest expanded convulsively, and with a supreme and crowning agony his lungs engulfed a great draught of air, which instantly he expelled in a shriek!

The humming of the gnats that danced above the eddies of the stream, the beating of the dragon flies' wings, the strokes of the water-spiders' legs, like oars which had lifted their boat--all these made audible music.

The humming of the gnats that danced above the eddies of the stream, the beating of the dragon flies' wings, the strokes of the water-spiders' legs, like oars which had lifted their boat--all these made audible music.

They were in silhouette against the blue sky.

They shouted and gesticulated, pointing at him.

The sound of a clear, high voice in a monotonous singsong now rang out behind him and came across the water with a distinctness that pierced and subdued all other sounds, even the beating of the ripples in his ears.

How coldly and pitilessly--with what an even, calm intonation, presaging, and enforcing tranquillity in the men--with what accurately measured inter vals fell those cruel words:

How coldly and pitilessly--with what an even, calm intonation, presaging, and enforcing tranquillity in the men--with what accurately measured inter vals fell those cruel words:

The water roared in his ears like the voice of Niagara, yet he heard the dulled thunder of the volley and, rising again toward the surface, met shining bits of metal, singularly flattened, oscillating slowly downward.

The two sentinels fired again, independently and ineffectually.

The officer," he reasoned, "will not make that martinet's error a second time.

He had been caught in a vortex and was being whirled on with a velocity of advance and gyration that made him giddy and sick.

He had been caught in a vortex and was being whirled on with a velocity of advance and gyration that made him giddy and sick.

The sudden arrest of his motion, the abrasion of one of his hands on the gravel, restored him, and he wept with delight.

A strange, roseate light shone through the spaces among their trunks and the wind made in their branches the music of Æolian harps.

The forest seemed interminable; nowhere did he discover a break in it, not even a woodman's road.

There was something uncanny in the revelation.

He was sure they were arranged in some order which had a secret and malign significance.

Doubtless, despite his suffering, he had fallen asleep while walking, for now he sees another scene--perhaps he has merely recovered from a delirium.

At the bottom of the steps she stands waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy, an attitude of matchless grace and dignity.