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About this book
Set during the Civil War, Ambrose Bierce’s short story follows a man sentenced to hang for attempting to destroy a bridge, and makes his final moments a tale of fear and imagined escape. It is suited to upper-secondary readers, with its compressed form and attention to how perception shifts under extreme pressure. As he waits above the water, the ticking of his watch swells in his mind into a sharp, distant noise. Later, under fire, his quick calculations make escape seem within reach, keeping the action tightly bound to his urgent thoughts.
