"Hans Phaall" - читать интересную книгу автора (Poe Edgar Allan)

appeared distressed in the extreme, and struggled to escape; while
the cat mewed piteously, and, with her tongue hanging out of her
mouth, staggered to and fro in the car as if under the influence of
poison. I now too late discovered the great rashness of which I had
been guilty in discharging the ballast, and my agitation was
excessive. I anticipated nothing less than death, and death in a few
minutes. The physical suffering I underwent contributed also to render
me nearly incapable of making any exertion for the preservation of my
life. I had, indeed, little power of reflection left, and the violence
of the pain in my head seemed to be greatly on the increase. Thus I
found that my senses would shortly give way altogether, and I had
already clutched one of the valve ropes with the view of attempting a
descent, when the recollection of the trick I had played the three
creditors, and the possible consequences to myself, should I return,
operated to deter me for the moment. I lay down in the bottom of the
car, and endeavored to collect my faculties. In this I so far
succeeded as to determine upon the experiment of losing blood. Having
no lancet, however, I was constrained to perform the operation in the
best manner I was able, and finally succeeded in opening a vein in my
right arm, with the blade of my penknife. The blood had hardly
commenced flowing when I experienced a sensible relief, and by the
time I had lost about half a moderate basin full, most of the worst
symptoms had abandoned me entirely. I nevertheless did not think it
expedient to attempt getting on my feet immediately; but, having tied
up my arm as well as I could, I lay still for about a quarter of an
hour. At the end of this time I arose, and found myself freer from
absolute pain of any kind than I had been during the last hour and a
quarter of my ascension. The difficulty of breathing, however, was
diminished in a very slight degree, and I found that it would soon be
positively necessary to make use of my condenser. In the meantime,
looking toward the cat, who was again snugly stowed away upon my coat,
I discovered to my infinite surprise, that she had taken the
opportunity of my indisposition to bring into light a litter of three
little kittens. This was an addition to the number of passengers on my
part altogether unexpected; but I was pleased at the occurrence. It
would afford me a chance of bringing to a kind of test the truth of a
surmise, which, more than anything else, had influenced me in
attempting this ascension. I had imagined that the habitual endurance
of the atmospheric pressure at the surface of the earth was the cause,
or nearly so, of the pain attending animal existence at a distance
above the surface. Should the kittens be found to suffer uneasiness in
an equal degree with their mother, I must consider my theory in fault,
but a failure to do so I should look upon as a strong confirmation
of my idea.
By eight o'clock I had actually attained an elevation of seventeen
miles above the surface of the earth. Thus it seemed to me evident
that my rate of ascent was not only on the increase, but that the
progression would have been apparent in a slight degree even had I not
discharged the ballast which I did. The pains in my head and ears
returned, at intervals, with violence, and I still continued to