Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1858-10-21

A wiSp OF straw which he had carelessly
| thrown against them on the preceding day, as
| he paced to and fro remained where he had
cast it, though it must have,been displaced by
the slightest motion of either of the doors. This
was evidence that could not be disputed; and
| it followed there must be some secret machi-
merry in the walls by which person could en-
| ter. He inspected them closely They APP
| peared to him as one solid and compact mass
of iron; or joined if joined they were, with
such nice art, that no mark of the division was
perceptible. Again and again lie surveyed
them-and the foor-and the roof-and that
range of visionary windows, as he was now
almost tempted to consider them-he could dis
cover nothing, absolutely nothing, to relieve
his doubts or satisfy his curiosity Sometimes
he fancied that altogether the dungeon had
more contracted appearance that it looked
smaller; but this he aScribed to fancy, and the
impression naturally produced upon his mind
by the undenabe disappearance of two of the
windows.
With intense anxiety, Vivenzo looked for
ward to the return of night; and as it approach
ed, he resolved that no treacherOuS sleep should
again betray him. Instead of seeking his bed
of straw, ne continued to walk up aud down
his dungeon till daylight, strainmg his eyes in
every direction through the darkness, to watch
for any appearance that might explain these
mysteries. While thus engaged, and as near
| Iy as he could Judge (by the time that after
wards elapsed before the morning came in,)
about two O'clock there was slight trcmu-
! Ions motion of the floors. He stopped The
motion lasted nearly minute; but it was so
extremely gentle, that he almost doubted
whether it was real or imaginary. lie listened.
| Not a sound could be heard Presently, how
! ever, he felt rush of cold air blow upon him;
and dashing towards the quarter whence it
! seemed to proceed, he stumbled over something
which he Judged to be the water ever The
| rush of cold air was no longer perccptible
and as Nivcnzio stretched out his hands, he
| found himself close to the wall lie remained
motomleSS for a considerable time; but nothing
Octured during the remainder of the night to
! excite his attention. though he continued to
watch with unabatcd vigilance.
| The first approaches Of the morning were
visible through the grated windows, breaking,
with faint divisions Of light, the darkness that
still pervaded every other part long before
! Vivenzio was enabled to distinguish any object
in his dungeon. InstinctiveIy and fearfully he
! turned his eyes, hot and inhamed with watch
ing towards them. There were FOUR! He
could see only four; but it might be that some
Intervening object prevented the fifth from be-
coming perceptible; and he waited mpatientIy
to ascertain if it were so. AS the light strength
ened, however, and penetrated every corner of
the CELL other objects of amazement struck his
sight On the ground lay the broken frag-
ments of the pitcher he had used the day be-
fore, and at small distance from them, near
! Il, tl,o h,, hol GOD
the first night 1t was filled with water and
beside it was his food He was now certain
that by some mechanical contriyance an opening
was obtained through the iron wall, and that
through this opening the current of air had
| found entrance But how noiSeless! For had
feather almost waved at the time, he must
have heard it, Again he examined that part
of the wall; but both to sight and touch it ap-
+ peared one even and uniform surface, while to
repeated and violent blows there was no rcver-
berating sound Indicative of holowness.
This perplexing mystery had for a time with
drawn his thoughts from the windows; but now
directing his eyes again towards them, he saw
that the fifth had disappeared in the same
manner as the preceding two, without the least
distinguishable alteration of external appear
ances. The remaining four looked as the sew
en- had originally looked; that is. occupying at
| irregular distances, the top of the wall on that
side of the dungeon The tall fodng-door, too,
still seemed to stand beneath, in the center of
these four as it had at first stood in the center
of the seven. But he could no longer doubt,
what on the preceding day. he fancied might
| be the effect OF visual deception. The dungeon
aras smaller The roof had lowercd-and the
opposite ends had contracted the intermediate
distance by space equal, he thought, to that
| over which the three windows had extended.
! He was bewildered in vain imaginings to ac-
count for these things. Some frightful pur-
pose-some devilSh torture of mind or body
some unheard Of device for producing exquisite
misery, lurked he was sure, in what had taken
place.
Oppressed with this belief, and distracted
more by the dreadful uncertainty of whatever
fate impended, than he could he dismayed, he
! thought by the knowledge of the worst, he sat
ruminating, hour after hour, yielding his fears
/ in succession TO every haggard fancy. AT last
horrible sucpicion flashed suddenly across his
mind and he started up with frantic air
"Yes!" he exclaimed, looking wildly around
his dungeon, and shuddering as he spoke
Yes! il must be so! | see It'll feel the
maddening truth like scorching flames upon my
brain! Eternal God support me! it must be
so!-Yes. YES, that is to be my fate! Gon roof
will descend! these walls will hem me round =
and slowly, slowly, crush me in their iron arms!
Lord God look down upon me- and in mercy
stride me with instant death! Oh, Hcnd-oh,
devils ;his your revenge p
He dashed himself upon the ground in ag-
ony;-tears burst from him, and the sweat
stood in large drops upon his face-he sobbed
aloud-he tore his hair-he rolled abont like
one suffering intolcrabIe anguish of body, and
would have bitten the iron floor beneath him;
he brcathed fearful curses upon Tolfi, aud the
| ,ovt ,,ament nassionate drawers TO heaven for