East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1860-05-24

his hands swollen aud benumbed. h,
dropped hopeless down, and Law stunned
Tor a considerable time by the fall
When he recovered, the glorious vision
had vanished, He was in darkness -
He doubted whether It was not dream
that had passed before his sleeping fancy
but gradually his scattered thoughts re-
turned and with them came remem.
brsnce as of old. Yesl he had looked
once again upon the gorgeous splendor
;oi naturel Once again his eyes had trem.
bled beneath their yelled lids, at the suns
radiance, and sought repose in the soft
verdue of the olive tree, or the gentle
swell Of indicating waves. Oh! that he
were amariner, exposed upon those waves
TO the worst fury of storm and tempest;
or q very wretch loathsome with disease,
plague-stricken, and his body one leprous
contagion from crown to sole, hunted
forth to gasp out the remnant of infec-
tlous life beneath those verdant trees, so
he might shun the destiny upon whose
edge he tottered!r
Vain thoughts like these would steal
over his mind from time to time, in spite
of himself; but they scarcely moved it
from that stupor into which it had sunk,
and which kept him during the whole
night, like one who had been drugged
with opium. He was equally insensible
to the calls of hunger and thirst, though
the third day was now commencing since
even drop of water had passed his lips.
He remained on the ground sometimes
lying, at intervals sleeping heavily, and
when not sleeping, silently brooding over
what was to come, or talking aloud, in
,disordered speech, of his wrongs, of his
friends, and of those he loved, with a
confused mingling of them all.
In this pitable condition, the sixth and
last morning dawned upon Vivenzio, if
dawn it might be called-the dim, oh
scurelightwhich family struggled through
the ONE SOLITARY window of his dungeon.
He could hardly be said to notice the
melancholy token. And yet he did no.
tice it; for as he raised his eyes and saw
the portentous sign, there was slight
convulsive distortion of his countenance.
But what did attract his notice, and at
the sight of which his agitation was ex-
cessive, was the change his iron bedstead
had undergone. 1t was bed no longer.
1t stood before him the visible semblance
of a funeral couch or bier When he
beheld this, he started from the ground,
and in raising himself suddenly struck
bus head against the roof, which was now
80 low that he could no longer stand up
right. Goods will be done,n was all he
said, as he crouched his body, and placed
bis hand upon tho bier; for such it was.
The iron bedstead had been so contrived,
by the mechanical art of Ludovico Sforza,
that as the advancing walls came in con-
tact with its head and feet, a pressure
was produced upon concealed springs,
which, when made to play, set in motion
very simple though ingeniously con-
trived machinery that effected the trans
formation. The object was, of course,
to heighten, in the closing scene of this
horrible drama, oil the feelings of despair
and anguish, which the preceding ones
had aroused. For the same reason, the
last window was so made as to admit only
a dim shadowy kind of gloom rather than
light, that the wretchcd captive might be
surrounded, as it were, with every SEEM
ing preparation for the approaching
death.
Vivenzio seated himself on the bier
Then he knelt and prayed fervently; and
tears would gush from him.
The air seemed thick, and he breathed
with difficulty; or it might be that he
fancied it was so, from the hot and mar
row limits of his dungeon, which were
now so diminished that he could neither
stand up nor lie down at his full length.
But his wasted spirits and oppressed
mind no longer struggled within him.
lie was past hope, and fear shook him no
more. Happy if thus revenge had struck
its fatal blow; for he would have fallen
beneath it almost unconscious of pang
But such a lethargy of the soul, after
such an excitement of its fercest pas.
sions, had entered into the diabolical cal
culations of Tolf; and the fell artificer
of his designs had imagined counter
acting device.
The tolling of an enormous bell struck
npon the ears of Vivenzio! He started.
1t beat but once. The sound was so
close and stunning, that it seemed to
shattcr his very brain, while it echoed
through the rocky passages like rever-
peals of thunder. This was
by sudden crash of the roof
and walls, as if they were about to fall
upon and close round him at once. vi
venzio screamed, and instinctively spread
forth his arms, as though he had a gi-
ants strength to hold them back. They
had moved nearer to him, and were now
motionless. Vivcnzio looked up, and
saw the roof almost touching his head,
even as he sat covering beneath it; and
he felt that farther contraction of but
! few inches only must commence the
frightful operation. Reused as he had
been, he now gasped for breath. His
body shook violently-he was bent near
y double. His hands rested on either
wall, and his feet were drawn under him
TO avoid the pressure in front. Thus he
for more than an hour, when
that deafening bell beat again, and again
there came the clash of horrid DEATH
But the conclusion was now so great that
4 struck Vivenzio down. AS he lay
gathered up in lessened bulk, the bell