the Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe the thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge you who so well know the nature of my soul will not suppose however that I gave utterance to a threat at length I would be avenged this was a point definitively settled but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk I must not only punish but punish with impunity a wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redress err it is equally unredressed when the Avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong it must be understood that neither by word nor deed had i given Fortunato cause to doubt my goodwill I continued as was my want to smile in his face and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his emulation he had a weak point this Fortunato although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared he prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit for the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity to practice imposture upon the British in Austrian millionaires in painting and Jim Murray Fortunato like his countrymen was a crack but in the matter of old wines he was sincere in this respect I did not differ from him materially I was skillful in the Italian vintages myself and bought largely whenever I could it was about dusk one evening during the supreme madness of the Carnival season that I encountered my friend he accosted me with excessive warmth for he had been drinking much the man wore motley he had on a tight-fitting party striped dress and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells I was so pleased to see him that I thought I should never have done wringing his hand I said to him my dear Fortunato you are luckily mad how remarkably well you are looking today but I have received a pipe of what passes for a Monte Otto and I have my doubts Haho said he Amontillado a pipe in possible and in the middle of Carnival I have my doubts I replied and I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter you were not to be found and I was fearful of losing a bargain Amontillado I have my doubts Hado and I must satisfy them Amontillado as you are engaged I am on my way to Luce see if anyone has a critical turn it is he he will tell me jz cannot tell i'm a tiara from sherry and yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own come let us go whither to your vaults my friend no I will not impose upon your good nature I perceive you have an engagement Lucchese I have no engagement come my friend no it is not the engagement but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted the vaults are insufferably damp you are encrusted with nighter let us go nevertheless the cold is merely nothing Amontillado you have been imposed upon and as for Lucchese he cannot distinguish sherry from Amonte Otto thus speaking Fortunato possessed himself of my arm putting on a mask of black silk and drawing a row colera closely about my person I suffered him to hurry me to my Palazzo there were no attendants at home they had absconded to make merry in honour of the time I told them that I should not return until the morning and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house these orders were sufficient i well knew to ensure their immediate disappearance one and all as soon as my back was turned I took from their sconces to Flambeau and giving one to Fortunato bowed him through several Suites of rooms to the archway that led into the vaults I passed down a long and winding staircase requesting him to be cautious as he followed we came at length to the foot of the descent and stood together on the damp ground of the catacombs of the mantra sores the gate of my friend was unsteady in the bells upon his cap jingled as he strode the pipe said he he farther on said ah but observe the white WebWork which gleams from these cavern walls he turned toward me and looked into my eyes with two filmy orbs that distilled the room of intoxication niter he asked at length night er I replied how long have you had that cough my poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes it's nothing he said at last come I said with decision we'll go back your health is precious you are rich respected admired beloved you were happy as once I was you are a man to be missed for me it is no matter we will go back you will be ill and I cannot be responsible besides there is loo cheesy enough he said a Carver's mere nothing it will not kill me I shall not die of a cough true true I replied and indeed I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarily but you should use all proper caution a draft of this medic will defend us from the damps here I knocked off the neck of a bottle which I drew from a long row of its fellows that lay upon the mould drink I said presenting him the wine he raised it to his lips with a leer he paused and nodded to me familiarly while his bells jingled I drink he said to the Buried that repose around us and I to your long life he again took my arm and we proceeded these waltz he said are extensive the mantra soars I replied were a great and numerous family I forget your arms a huge human foot door in a field azure the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are embedded in the heel and the model Nemo MAME Puna like a seat good he said the wine sparkled in his eyes in the bells jingle my own fancy grew warm with the meadow we had passed through walls of piled bones with casks and puncheon's intermingling into the inmost recesses of the catacombs I paused again and this time I made bold to seize Fortunato by an arm above the elbow the knighter I said see it increases it hangs like moss upon the vaults we are below the rivers bed the drops of moisture trickle among the bones come we will go back here it is too late your cough it is nothing he said let us go on but first another draught of the medic I broke and reached him a flagon of de Graaff he emptied it it a breath his eyes flashed with a fierce light he laughed and threw the bottle upward with a gesticulation I did not understand I looked at him in surprise he repeated the movement a grotesque one you do not comprehend he said not I I replied then you are not of the Brotherhood how you are not of the Masons yes yes I said yes yes you impossible a mason a mason I replied a sign he said it is this I answered producing a trowel from beneath the falls of Morocco lair you jest he exclaimed recoiling a few paces but let us proceed to the Amontillado be it so I said replacing the tool beneath the cloak and again offering him my arm he leaned upon it heavily we continued our route in search of the Amontillado we passed through a range of low arches descended passed on and descending again at a deep crypt in which the fowl nosov the air caused our Flambeau rather to glow and flame at the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious its walls had been lined with human remains piled to the vault overhead in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner from the forth the bones had been thrown down and laid promiscuously upon the earth forming at one point a mound of some size within the wall thus exposed by the displacing of the bones we perceived a still interior recess in depth about four feet in width three in height six or seven it seemed to have been constructed for no especial use within itself but formed merely the interval between two of the colossal supports of the roof of the catacombs and was backed by one of their circumscribing walls of solid granite it was in vain that Fortunato uplifting his dull torch endeavored to pry into the depth of the recess its termination the feeble light did not enable us to see proceed I said herein is the Amontillado as for Lucchese he is an ignoramus interrupted my friend as he stepped unsteadily forward while I followed immediately at his heels in an instant he had reached the extremity of the nation finding his progress arrested by the rock stood stupidly bewildered a moment more and I had fettered him to the granite in its surface with two iron staples distant from each other about two feet horizontally from one of these depended a short chain from the other a padlock throwing the Lynx about his waist it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it he was too much a standard to resist withdrawing the key I stepped back from the recess pass your hand I said over the wall you cannot help feeling the nighter indeed it is very damp once more let me implore you to return No then I must positively leave you but I must first render you all the little attentions in my power the Amontillado ejaculated my friend not yet recovered from his astonishment true I replied the Amontillado as I said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones of which I have before spoken throwing them aside I soon uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar with these materials and with the aid of my trowel I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche I had scarcely laid the first tier of the masonry when I discovered that the intoxication of Fortunato had in great measure worn off the earliest indication I had of this was a low moaning cry from the depth of the recess it was not the cry of a drunken man there was then a long and obstinate silence I laid the second tier and the third and the fourth and then I heard the Furious vibrations of the chain the noise lasted for several minutes during which that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction I ceased my Labour's and sat down upon the bones when at last the clanking subsided I resumed the trowel and finished without interruption the fifth the sixth and the seventh tier the wall was now nearly upon a level with my breast I again paused and holding the flambeaux over the Mason work through a few feeble rays upon the figure within a succession of loud and shrill screams bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form seemed to thrust me violently back for a brief moment I hesitated I trembled on sheathing my rapier I began to grope with it about the recess but the thought of an instant reassured me I placed my hand upon the solid fabric of the catacombs and felt satisfied I reappropriation in volume and in strength I did this and the clamor are grew still it was now midnight and my task was drawing to a close I had completed the eighth the ninth and the tenth tier I had finished a portion of the last in the 11th there remained but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in I struggled with its weight I placed it partially in its distant position but now there came from out the niche a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head it was succeeded by a sad voice which I had difficulty in recognizing is that of the noble Fortunato the voice said Oh a very good joke indeed an excellent jest we will have many a rich laugh about it at the Palazzo he over a wine the Amontillado I said yes Amontillado but it is not getting late will not they be awaiting us at the Palazzo the lady Fortunato and the rest let us be gone yes I said let us be gone for the love of God Montresor yes I said for the love of God but to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply I grew impatient I called aloud Fortunato no answer I called again Fortunato no answer still trust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within there came forth and reply only a jingling of bells my heart grew sick on account of the dampness of the catacombs hasten to make an end of my labour I forced the last stone into its position I plastered it up against the new masonry I reacted the old rampart of bones for the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them in Pocky requiescat