at it and thinking what a companion one of God's beautiful lights like this must have been to the solitary prisoner who had this outlook, so rare in the ducal prisons, tired nature succumbed and I was again in the land of dreams. "When I awoke my limbs ached with the hardness of the wooden couch. Rising to my feet, I straightened my aching limbs, and once more went to the little grated window and looked out. It was broad daylight now, sure enough. The morning sunbeams sparkled on the distant waves. Ere long I heard the stroke of the hour seven. "Now for a thorough look for the door of this terrible dungeon, to find it and go forth. "But where was the door? "I walked directly to the spot where I felt confident it ought to be, but, closely as I examined, I could discover only what seemed to be an unbroken wall to the apartment. "It was no nightmare now, but a fearful reality; a riddle, the solution of which I must bring my keenest senses to bear upon, and I felt it. My sight had now become so accustomed to the imperfect light that I could examine my prison with a tolerable degree of distinctness. "It was perfectly evident to me that the door must have been shut during my first slumber the night previous, but how, by whom, or for what purpose, I could not imagine. On calm reflection I came to the conclusion that the custodian or some friend, having discovered me sleeping, had thought it would be a pleasant practical joke to thus incarcerate me for the night, and that they would promptly liberate me in the morning. "But it was now morning, and the clock-tower bell had struck eight as I sat on the bench moodily turning over these thoughts and reflections. "The Ducal Palace was opened for visitors, I remembered, from nine to four. It could now be but an hour before the custodian and his officials were on duty. At or before that time, he, or whoever had perpetrated this wretched joke, if joke it was, would come and release me. "Slowly the moments rolled along, but not the sound of any approach broke the silence till, at length, after the last stroke of nine had sounded, I could endure waiting no longer. I went to the wall where the door ought to have been, examined it closely, held my face down to discover any current of air, and tried with finger nails to detect the crack. There were cracks enough, horizontal and longitudinal, and through one I felt, or fancied I felt, to my great joy, a current of air; the door must be here, and I threw myself with all my force against the spot and each side and about it, but without any more perceptible effect than against a solid wall of masonry. Panting with exertion, and with perspiration streaming from every pore, notwithstanding coat and vest had been thrown off for the effort, I staggered back again to the oaken bench as the clock struck ten. "What effort should I make next? I felt faint and sick, and now for the first time realized the want of nourishment, and that since a light lunch, nearly twenty-four hours previous, nothing had passed my lips. From the hour of waking, throat and lips were parched with thirst, both from excitement and the exertion I had made, and now the longing for water was intolerable. Tongue, lips, and throat seemed dry unto bursting, and my heart beat quicker at the thought of dying of thirst and hunger in this terrible place, as I cursed the thoughtlessness that led me to wander up here alone and unnoticed. "I had not tried shouting for help, and why should I not? But it seemed as if my parched tongue refused its office, and my efforts resulted in a hoarse sort of shriek for help, which certainly could not be heard through the thick walls of my prison; and I soon found this effort becoming little more than a hoarse whisper, and so tottered to the window once again to inhale the reviving air and look forth while yet I might upon the blue sky, the beautiful distant waves, and listen to what sounds of free life without might float up to me from the busy city far below. "The hammers of the bronze giants were again busy, and the great bell of the clock tower began to toll off the hour of noon. Twelve o'clock, and still no signs of my liberation. There was a rush as of many wings; a flock of pigeons passed in sight of my prison window - the pigeons of St. Mark's, that always come into the square at the stroke of two to be fed with their governmental ration of grain. They were gathering in anticipation of the approaching hour of their daily feast. A dozen alighted upon the leads below, not twenty feet from my window. Could I not in some way make these to be carrier pigeons, giving intelligence of my fate? But I had no means of entrapping or enticing them any nearer to me. "A thorough search of my pockets revealed nothing but a penknife, a bunch of keys, my purse, a few letters, and my notebook. "My notebook! I would turn this to account, at least while I had strength to do so. I wrote severally in English, French, and as well as I was able in Italian, which I then knew imperfectly, these words: "Help! A visitor who has been accidentally shut in a cell in Sotto Piombi in the Ducal Palace, and is dying, writes these lines. In God's name, help at once!' "These I folded and indorsed, 'Look Within,' and then threw them out through the grated bars of my prison, hoping they would flutter into the square below and there be found. They dropped upon the leads, and one fluttered in between two little projections and was wedged firmly, and the others did not come in sight from under the great overhanging sill that projected beneath my window. So with trembling hands I wrote and rewrote half a dozen more, folding them and throwing them out as far as I possibly could. "Again the great clock struck. Two! "Great heavens! Will relief never come? I sought the bench in the middle of the room again, and sank down, dropped my now fevered brow into the palms of my hands, and tears of nervous grief and excitement trickled through my fingers. "I sat, I know not how long, in a half-dreaming state of stupor, when a voice said: "What would you? There are no guests here. ""There is no one here.' I seemed to hear the words with startling distinctness. "No one here! There is! Good God! Here is a man shut up in this fearful place!' "There was no mistaking this sound; I was dreaming or insane. Raising my head from my hands, and leaping to my feet, my eyes were almost dazzled by the light that poured in from the open door of the cell, in which stood a party of visitors, two ladies and two gentlemen, and beside them the old custodian. "A start back, a faint shriek from one of the ladies, and an exclamation of surprise from one of the men, evinced their surprise at my unlooked for apparition. "For God's sake, save me you speak English shut up here accident save me!' cried I in a hoarse whisper, and fell in a dead faint at their very feet. "When I recovered I was reclining upon a great settee or sofa in the Chamber of the Council of Ten; a gentle sort of perfumed breeze seemed to be playing upon my brow, which I discovered came from the fan of one of my good liberators; the great window above me was opened, and an abundance of glorious sunlight poured in with the air through the casement. The old custodian came breaking through the group with a bottle of wine that he had run to one of the restaurants in the square for, and never was nectar more delicious than the first glass of that vin ordinaire. "In a quarter of an hour I was sufficiently recovered to tell a portion of my story, but I shook as with an ague fit from nervous agitation; and as Dr. Richetti, who had been hastily summoned, arrived, placed his cool hand upon my brow, and felt the rapid leaping of my pulse, he quietly commanded a postponement of further particulars and I was half carried, half led across Piazzetta to his waiting gondola, which was swiftly rowed to my hotel." A FENCE OF TRUST Build a little fence of trust around to-day, Fill the space with loving works and therein stay; BUTTS. |