Sentence The Threehundredandseventeenth
He looked at her, but his brain registered nothing; he did not know if his eyes had been damaged in some way, or if the knock on his head was responsible for the buzzing like a wasp inside his ears, the buzzing rose and fell and when he moved his head he felt sea-sick, as he once had when a boy; she was just out of his reach, unmoving, unconscious perhaps, even, perhaps, dead; but why should she be there? even more, why should he? something was wrong with his mind – and his body; at one point he had tried to sit up, but the most tremendous pain had shot right through him, he had fallen back and must have slipped into unconsciousness, for when he next opened his eyes the sun was bright in the sky, although he had to arch his back and look over his head to catch a glimpse of it, a low winter sun and he had to force himself to drag a heavy arm up so that he could shield his eyes from it, but not for long, the weight had been unbearable and he had had to drop it, like a heavy quoit the boys played with when he was young, and that had been when he had first seen her, he did not know how long ago it was, for he was still slipping in and out of consciousness and had no idea of the passage of time – on several occasions he was convinced the sun had actually moved backward in it's course from right to left , a deasil motion from which he had finally worked out that his feet were towards North and his head South and unless he had somehow turned like the needle in a compass it was his mind playing tricks for the woman and the natural objects which bounded his view were still the same! there, that was something he remembered, but it still didn't answer the question of how the sun could backtrack as he was convinced it had, unless something short of 24 hours had passed between his sightings of it, and that, he had to admit to himself, was entirely possible, the way he felt; he did not know if she had been there from the beginning, for it had been a long time till he had noticed her, though he did not think he had looked in that direction before he did, notice her that is; but he supposed that she must have been – had he fallen on her and knocked her down? was that possible? had they been fighting and knocked each other out? or had they been set upon and left here for dead? was she dead? how did he know that he was alive? he really couldn't tell, which made him feel much worse, and in his inability to reach, or even call over to the woman to see if she was all right, that made him feel worse too, as if he was somehow letting her down – but why were they both there anyway? it didn't make any sense! the boundary of his vision was not entirely natural, for there were signs of a messuage from a man-made dyke and he suddenly realised that he lacked the knowledge to make any sense of his situation, he felt like an autodidact with no guide or teacher to explain the things his mind could not comprehend and so he was forced to rely on the evidence of his senses, such as they were which was only that the ground beneath him was rough and hard, the few trees he could see were full grown, there were no sounds beyond the cries of birds, although the buzzing in his ears made even that uncertain, but wait, did he hear the lowing of cows somewhere distant, and a heavy throb seemed to come through the ground, like the faraway tramp of an army on the move; he looked at her again and this time her right eyelid which he could see seemed to flicker and open, and for a long time that was all, until she slowly turned her face towards him and she smiled!
He looked at her, but his brain registered nothing; he did not know if his eyes had been damaged in some way, or if the knock on his head was responsible for the buzzing like a wasp inside his ears, the buzzing rose and fell and when he moved his head he felt sea-sick, as he once had when a boy; she was just out of his reach, unmoving, unconscious perhaps, even, perhaps, dead; but why should she be there? even more, why should he? something was wrong with his mind – and his body; at one point he had tried to sit up, but the most tremendous pain had shot right through him, he had fallen back and must have slipped into unconsciousness, for when he next opened his eyes the sun was bright in the sky, although he had to arch his back and look over his head to catch a glimpse of it, a low winter sun and he had to force himself to drag a heavy arm up so that he could shield his eyes from it, but not for long, the weight had been unbearable and he had had to drop it, like a heavy quoit the boys played with when he was young, and that had been when he had first seen her, he did not know how long ago it was, for he was still slipping in and out of consciousness and had no idea of the passage of time – on several occasions he was convinced the sun had actually moved backward in it's course from right to left , a deasil motion from which he had finally worked out that his feet were towards North and his head South and unless he had somehow turned like the needle in a compass it was his mind playing tricks for the woman and the natural objects which bounded his view were still the same! there, that was something he remembered, but it still didn't answer the question of how the sun could backtrack as he was convinced it had, unless something short of 24 hours had passed between his sightings of it, and that, he had to admit to himself, was entirely possible, the way he felt; he did not know if she had been there from the beginning, for it had been a long time till he had noticed her, though he did not think he had looked in that direction before he did, notice her that is; but he supposed that she must have been – had he fallen on her and knocked her down? was that possible? had they been fighting and knocked each other out? or had they been set upon and left here for dead? was she dead? how did he know that he was alive? he really couldn't tell, which made him feel much worse, and in his inability to reach, or even call over to the woman to see if she was all right, that made him feel worse too, as if he was somehow letting her down – but why were they both there anyway? it didn't make any sense! the boundary of his vision was not entirely natural, for there were signs of a messuage from a man-made dyke and he suddenly realised that he lacked the knowledge to make any sense of his situation, he felt like an autodidact with no guide or teacher to explain the things his mind could not comprehend and so he was forced to rely on the evidence of his senses, such as they were which was only that the ground beneath him was rough and hard, the few trees he could see were full grown, there were no sounds beyond the cries of birds, although the buzzing in his ears made even that uncertain, but wait, did he hear the lowing of cows somewhere distant, and a heavy throb seemed to come through the ground, like the faraway tramp of an army on the move; he looked at her again and this time her right eyelid which he could see seemed to flicker and open, and for a long time that was all, until she slowly turned her face towards him and she smiled!
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