Unlocking a door that opened out of the kitchen, and still keeping hold of my ear, he led me into a dark, gloomy hall, with black walls, and opening a door on the right, he bade me enter.  This room was lighted by a candle, and around the sides, large iron hooks with heavy chains attached to them, were driven into the wall.  At the back part of the room, he opened the door, and bade me enter a small closet.  He then put a large iron ring over my head, and pressed it down upon my shoulders.  Heavy weights were placed in my hands, and I was told to stand up straight, and hold them fifteen minutes.  This I could not do.  Had my life depended upon the effort, I could not have stood erect, with those weights in my hands.  The priest, however, did not reprove me.  Perhaps he saw that I exerted all my strength to obey, for he took out his watch, and slowly counted the minutes as they passed.  Ere a third part of the time expired, he was obliged to release me, for the blood gushed from my nose and mouth, and I began to feel faint and dizzy.  The irons were removed, and the blood ceased to flow.

I was then taken to another room, lighted like the other, but it was damp and cold, and pervaded by a strong, fetid, and very offensive odor.  The floor was of wood, and badly stained with blood.  At least, I thought it was blood, but there was not light enough to enable me to say positively what it was.  In the middle of the room, stood two long tables, on each of which, lay a corpse, covered with a white cloth.  The priest led me to these tables, removed the cloth and bade me look upon the face of the dead.  They were very much emaciated, and the features, even in death, bore the impress of terrible suffering.  We stood there a few moments, when he again led me back to his own room.  He then asked me what I thought of what I had seen.  Having taken no food for more than twenty-four hours, I replied, “I am so hungry, I can think of nothing else.”  “How would you. like to eat those dead bodies?” he asked.  “I would starve, Sir, before I would do it,” I replied.  “Would you?” said he, with a slight sneer.  “Yes indeed,” I exclaimed, striving to suppress my indignant feelings.  “What! eat the flesh of a corpse?  You do not mean it.  I would starve to death first!” Frightened at my own temerity in speaking so boldly, I involuntarily raised my eye.  The peculiar smile upon his face actually chilled my blood with terror.  He did not, however, seem to notice me, but said, “Do not be too sure; I have seen others quite as sure as you are, yet they were glad to do it to save their lives; and remember,” he added significantly, “you will do it too if you are not careful.”  He then ordered me to return to the kitchen.