Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-09-19
THE sELF-IMPRIsoNED TOURIST.


Night soon came on, and its shades seemed to
deepen around him with leaden weight, that
was crushing him to the stone pavement, which
must be his couch for the night, and after a few
more such nights Of horror, must become his
tomb. As the sun went down, and darkness
came over the hills, oh : how dreadful grew the
deepening shadows Of his cell; how terribly
dark when the last rays had departed The
little aperture was the only spot in the range of
his vision. Soon the moon came up; then the
distant mountain tops were silvered Ger The
gloomy old castles on the neghboring hills,
which be had in bright sunlight gazed upon
win such delight, now stood out well defined
In the moonlight, and their sombre walls gave
BACK some response in its reflected rays. He
gathered himself to this irOn-bound window
and chung to the prospect through the mar
row opening as tenaeiOusly as if the dim views
OF the scenes without were necessary to his
physical being as the atmosphere was to his
lungs. Through this same aperture shone the
1eeoie moOnbeams; yet how welcome to our
deeOlate prisoner, for ii was a palliative to the
dread darkness of the cell, made the more hor-
rlDle from his fOreboding that its very darkness
was but the foreshadOwing of the night of death.
In the few fearful hours Of the first half Of the
night, his dreadful condition so worked upon
ms mind, that the rays of the moon through the
little opening and the darker shadows Of the
corner Of his cell, played hOrrid pranks and con-
lared up fightfnl pictures Of the imagination
fhsse grsW up into the outline Of spirits and
ghosts, which, with the voices of the winds
sweep sysr the ruins, and through its vaults,
became The read presence Of the beings of the
neither Wcrid
NataIe was soon exhausted by this extreme
tension Of mind and nerves, and the unfortunate
seH-lmpr sonsd man sank down upon the stone
h'or, and In dreams not less hOrrid than his
viking rsalities, he passed the night. He was
6wakenet By the sun shining from over the
"a s'er1 hIils, and through the window, directly
II hi5tase
hsrs&s aroused to bitter consciousness of
what hadpaseed-his hopeless condition-with
scarce possibility of escape. The calmness
Shlch yuccseded his partial rest. however pre-
Pated D. n 70 act with some deliberation as to
tne msa rs 10 be used for his extricatiOn. Again
he esrefaBy considered every probable chance
OF escape by his own efforts. He found in his
searcn iJrReans OF exit a number Of small frac-
meuts u rocks not larger than nuts which had
either allen from the ceiling, or had BEEN from
some unknown cause, deposited in his cell 1t
occurred TO him that possibly by the aid of
these small stones he light make his condition
known 10 some chance person wandering by the
castle de hrSt attempted To put out from his
opening flag signal of distress The thickness
OF the wall rendered this impractcabIe He
then fell back upon his last and only resource
as an experiment. From the strong linen tex
ture of his outer garment he extracted the warp
threads, and twisting a number of them to-
gether, be formed twine for his purpose; from
NOlumlnOus memorandum book he tore the blank
pages, and upon them wrote in brief sentences
In such German words as he understood, and in
good English, statement Of his situation, beg
glng for help to relieve him. These pages he
ued each to some of the small stones he found
upon his prison floor. A large number of these
messengers he prepared in this way They
were to be sent out, as Noah sent out the mes
senger dove from the ark, and with far less
prospect that they would be heard from again
These missiles be hurled out as far as possible
q" or he mountain side, from the little Orifces
I his HindaH--With the skill of a practical
hand II which hope gave direction and force.
ne threw out the little messengers of distress
beyond the face Of the wall, over the tops of the
surrounding trees. He could hear them. as
they few Outl0f bis sight, click and clip the
leaves and branches Of the trees in their out
naFd and eastward progress, until lost in the
silence Of rheir deep descent. Desperation
lent iOTCs ID the muscular power by which they
were PR pelted Having dispatched a large
number e them In this form he tore ND parts
OF his garms lts, and in the same manner at
ta;hiDg them TO the small stones both for bal
ahce and ballast, they were in the same way
thrown out upon the world. with as much hope
a 'naJ 80 Dread cast upon the waters would re-
turn after many DAYS"
% he Piled himself to his task from time to
tine a. the d ~ wore on. Well was it that his
memorandum book, and the threads of his gar
ment and the fragmen ntary rocks still remained
NiSlt closed upon him, and he had heard
nothing Of his messenger doves No cheering
evidence Of deliyerance, but another ght even
more dreadful than the past was before him.
1 1e day hsd pIssed without sustenance of any
hlnd- The l. cheOn and flask of grape iuice
Win winch Ae lad supplied his pocket when he
s;trtsd on his luckless jaunt, had been exhaust
cd ere ne nsd found iodgrnent in the cave of
DEATH One day had passed without a particle
CT nourishment. A night Of suffering and hor-
TOR vas before him-and that night came and
"enVas other nights to other men-but to
none other as to him.
The next day dawned gIoomily-a splendid
day upon the Rhine-rith him a day Of hope
less gloom, as before. Our despairing friend
was now wild and feverish The overwrougbt
condition OF the last thirty-six hours had done
the work OF years upon his life. His counten-
anee was haggard, his eyes were glazing over
with the hopelessness of despair. With less
energy he applied himself to the task of send
ing out, ike flying doves his little bulletins
which was only like asking of the winds, relief
Before the close Of the second day the last leaf
OF MS DOok had been superscribed and sent off
TO follow the fate Of its cloud Of predecessors
Inen came the third night, with it's over
vhelming despair, and visions of disordered
Imagination It's Pickering shadows fell upon
an intellect robbed of its acuteness by previous
sunerlng Towards morning he slumbered
more quietly than ever before, for in the weak
meas of his body, his soul had flown off in
dreams, to visit the delightful retreats Of home,
and TO revel in the cOmpanionship of brothers
and sisters and In the scenery Of vividly pic
tured childhood And while thus wandering
In delightful, yet to him strange lands the sun
arose II poured Its beams, as ON the first morn
ing ot the entombment, full in the face Of the
sleeper 1t came very sOothingly, as the suns
mild rays in the morning always do 1t
awakened MIN not More intently still was he
dreaming and reveling in the regions of hi,
home, IN the land Of merrie England And 90
the sun rose on, and continued its daily round
OF shedding light on the world, and sending il.
rays through every chink and crevice. to the
most gloomy prison cell And while be
dreamed he heard the voices Of the little flock
oi younger brothers and sisters, around the
FAMILY homestead, and they grew boisterous in
tneir words Of welcome, which seemed uttered
In tne audible chorus, - we come, We come, " SO
Glsunctly uttered that it awOke him from bis
sun0er And the charm passed like the rays