The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels, or
trains will be summarily hanged. I saw the order."
"How far is it to the Owl Creek bridge?" Fahrquhar asked.
"About thirty miles."
"Is there no force on this side of the creek?"
"Only a picket post half a mile out, on the railroad, and a
single sentinel at this end of the bridge."
"Suppose a man -- a civilian and student of hanging --
should elude the picket post and perhaps get the better of
the sentinel," said Fahrquhar, smiling, "what could he
accomplish?"
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |