Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1855-02-17
PLAQUEMINE PARISH OF IBERVIILE,
THE IRON SIIROUD.
A THRILLING TALE.

The castle of the Prince Of Toli was bull
on the summit of the towering and PERCEPTION
rock of Scylla, in all its grandeur. Here, dun
ing the wars Of the Middle Ages, when TIN
fertile pains Of Italy We're devastated by hos
tile factions, those prisoners We're confined 70
whose ransoms a costly price was demanded
Here, too, in dungeon excava,ed deep in th
solid rock, the miserable victim WAS immure,
whom revenge pursueG-the dark, fierce an,
Implying revenge Of an Italian heart
Vivenzio, the noble aud the generous, til,
fearless in battle, and the pride of Naples i,
her sunny hours OF peace-the young, tht
brave, the proud Fiveuzo-te beneath this
subtle and remorseless spirit. lie was the pri
soner OF JOlt, and he languished in that rock
encrced dungeon, which stood alone, anG
whose portals never opened twice upon iv
ing captive. -
1t had the semblance of a vast cage; for the
roof, and floor, and sides, were OF iron, soldy
wrought and spaciousIy constructed. High
above, there ran range of seven grated win-
dows, guarded with massive bars of the same
metal, which admitted light and air. Save
these, and the tall folding doors beneath them,
which occupied the centre, no chink, or chasm,
or projection, broke the smooth black surface
OF the walls. An iron bedstead Uttered with
straw, stood in one corner, and beside it ves-
sci with water, and coarse dish filled with
coarser food. . .-.z.....
Even the intrepid soul of Vvenzio shrunk
with dismay as he entered this abode and heard
the ponderous doors triple-locked by the silent
rnffians who conducted him to it, Their s.
lence seemed prophetic of his fate, of the liv-
ing grave that had been prepared for him. His
menaces and his entreates, his indignant ap-
peals for justice, and his impatient questioning
of their intentions, were alike vain. They lis
tened but spoke not. Fit ministers of crime
that should have no tongue. --
How dismal was the sound of their retiring
| steps. Ard as their faint echos died along the
winding passages, fearful prestage grew
within him, that never more the face, or voice,
or tread of man would greet his senses. He
had seen human beings for the last time; and
ne had looked his last upon the bright sky, and
upon the smiling earth, and upon beautiful
world he loved, and whose minion he had been.
Here he was to end his lfe-a life he had just
began to revel in. And by what means! By
secret poison! By murderous assault! No;
for then it had been needless to bring him hi-
ther. Famine, perhaps; thousand deaths in
one7 1t was terrible to think of it; but it was
yet more terrible to picture long, long years of
captivity, in solitude SO appalling, loneli-
ness so dreary, that thought, for want of fell
lowship, would lose itself in madness, or stag
nate into idiocy. sl-s
He could not hope to escape unless he had
the power, with his bare hands, of rending
asunder the solid iron walls of his prison. He
could not hope for liberty from the reening
mercies Of his enemy. His instant death, IN.
der any form of refined cruelty, was not the
object of Tolf, for he might have inflicted it,
and he had not. 1t was too evident, therefore,
that he was reserved for some premeditated
scheme of subtle vengeance that could trans-
cend in fiendish malice either the slow death Of
famine, or the still slower one of solitary in
generation, till the last lingering spark of life |
expired, or ill reason fled, and nothing should |
remain to perish but the brute functions of the |
body. lsf ~ s,f
1t was evening when Viyenzio entered his
dungeon, and the approaching shades of night
wrapped his cell in total darkness, as he paced |
upand down, revolving in his mind these ter. |
rible forebodings. No tong bell from the |
castle nor from any neighboring church or con.
vent, struck upon his ear to tell how the hours
passed. Frequently he would stop aud listen |
for some sound that might betoken the vicinity
Of man; but the solitude of the desert, the si-
lence of the tomb, are not so deep and still as
the oppressive desoation by which he was en-.
His heart sunk within him, and
he threw himself detected on his couch of
straw. Here sleep gradually obhera'ed the
OF misery, and bland dreams
waited his delighted spirit to scenes which
were once glowing realities for him in whose
ravishing illusions he soon lost the remem.
Dranee that he was 1olf's prisoner. asis ssss,s
When he awoke it was daylight, but how
ong he, had slept he knew not, 1t might be
,ar'y morning, or it might be sultry noon, for
ne could measure time by no other note Of its
progress than light and darkness. He had
'een SO happy in hisislcep, amid friends. who
owed him; and the sweet endearments of those
Who loved him as friends could not, that in the
lrst moments Of waking, his startled mind
'eemed to admit the knowledge of his situa-
ion, as II IT had burst upon il for the first time,
resh in all its appalling horrors. He gazed
oupd with an air Of doubt and amazement
nd took up handful of the straw upon
rhich he lay, as though he would ask himself
THAT IT meant. But memory, too faithful to !
er office, soon unveiled the melancholy past, ,
vhle reason shuddered at the task, lifting up
efore his eyes the tremendous future. The :
ontrast overpowered him. He remained for ]
ome time lamenting, likes truth, the bright
isions that had vanished; and recoiling from f,
,e present which clung to him as poisoned
arment. @sa - as17- 7''s s' s~7@' essrat
When he grew more calm, he surveyed his ,
loomy dungeon. Alas! the stronger light Of 8
ay only served to confism what the gloomy )
of the preceding evening had II
ariially disclosed, the utter impossibiIity of t
'cape. As, however, bis eyes wandered a. il
'und and around, and from place to place, he 8
Oticed two circumstances which excited his v
lrPrise and curiosity. The one, he thought C.
ight he fancy but the other was positive. il
IL pitcher Of water, and the dislf which con. e
ined his food, had been removed from his O
de- while he slept, and now stood near the @
,0r Were be even inclined to tlouht this bysii Il