MS-WU-MSS008-3-49

[1887] blue because there is less green, but it is no less thick thanks to the
leaden winter sky. [1888] Then something about the black dripping from the
black boughs, something in that line. [1889] The black slush of leaves slowed
me down even more,^. [1890] But leaves or no leaves I would have abandoned walking
upright, the way men do. [1891] And I still remember the day when, flat on my
face by way of rest, in defiance of the rules, I suddenly cried, striking
my brow, Christ, there's crawling, I never thought of that.

[1892] But could I
crawl, with my legs in such a state, and my trunk? [1893] And my head. [1894] But
before going on, a word about the forest murmurs. [1895] It was in vain I
listened, I could hear nothing of the kind. [1896] But rather, with much good-
-will and a little imagination, at long intervals a distant gong. [1897] A horn
goes well with the forest, you expect it. [1898] It is the hunter. [1899] But a gong!

[1900] Even a tom-tom, at a pinch, would not have shocked me. [1901] But a gong! [1902] It
was mortifying, to have been looking forward to the celebrated murmurs oⁱf
to nothing else, and to succeed only in hearihⁿg, at long intervals, in the
far distand^ce, a gong. [1903] For a moment I dared hope it was only my heart,
still beating. [1904] But only for a moment. [1905] For it does not beat, not my
heart, I'd have to refer you to hydraulics for the noise that old pump
makes.

[1906] To the leaves too I listened, before their fall, attentively in
vain. [1907] They made no sound, motionless and rigid, like brass, have I said
that before? [1908] So much for the forest murmurs. [1909] From time to time I blew
my horn, through the cloth of my pocket. [1910] Its hoot was fainter every time.
[1911] I had taken it off my bicycle. [1912] When? [1913] I don't know. [1914] And now, let us
have done.

[1915] Flat on my belly, using my crutches like grapnels, I plunged
them ag^head of me into the undergrowth, and when I felt they had a grip,
I pulled myself forward, with an effort of the wrists. For my wrists
were still quite strong, fortunately, in spite of my decrepitude, though
all swollen and racked by a kind of chronic arthritis ro^probably. [1916] That then
briefly is how I went about it. [1917] The advantage of this mode of locomotion