Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1864-03-05


person could enter. He inspected them
closely. They appeared to him one solid and
compact mass of iron; or joined, if joined
they were. with such nice art, that no mark
of division was perceptiblc. Again and again
he surveyed them-and the foor-and the
roof-ard that range Of visionary windows, as
he was now almost tempted to call them: he
could discover nothing to relieve his doubts or
satisfy his curiosity. Sometimes he fancicd
that altogether the dungeon had more con-
tractcd appearance-that it looked smaller; |;
but this he ascribed to fancy. end the impress
sion naturally produced upon his mind by the
unleniable disappearance Of til" two windows.
With intense anxiety, Vivcnz;o looked for
ward to the return of night and as it ap-
preached, he resolved that no treachcrous
sleep should again betray him. Instead of
seeking his bed of straw, he continued to walk
up and down his dungeon till daylight, strain
ing his eyes in every direction through tho
darkness, to watch for any appearances that
might explain these mysteries. While thus
engaged, and as nearly as he could judge (by
the time that afterwards elapsed before
morning came in,) about two o'clock there
was slight trcmuous motion Of the floor.
He stopped. The motion lasted nearly a min
ute; but it was SO extremely gentle,
that he almost doubted whether it was real or
only imaginary. lie listened. Not sound
could be heard. Presently, however, he felt
rush of cold air blow upon him; and dash
ing towards the quarter whence it seemed to
proceed, he stumbled over something which
he Judged to be the water ever. The rusl,
of cold air was no longer percepible: and as
Vivenzio stretched out his hands, lie found
himself close; to the walls lie remained mo-
tionlDss for considerable time; but nothing
occurred during tho remainder of the night to
excite his attention, though he continued to
witch till morning with undated vigilance.
The first approaches Of morning were visi-
ble through the grated windows breaking,
with faint divisions of light and darkness that
still pprvaded every other part, long before
Vivcnzio was enabled to distinguish any OBJ
irct in his dungeon. Instinctively aud fear
fully he turned his eyes, bot and inilamed
with watching, towards them. There were
but FOUR! lle could see only four; but it
might be that some intervening object pre-
vented the fifth from becoming percrptible;
and he waited patiently to ascertain il it were
so. As the light strengthened. however, and
penetrated every corner of the cell, other OBJ,
iects of amazcmrnt struck his sight. On the
ground lay the broken fragments Of the pitch.
er he had used the day before, and at a small
distance from them nearer to the wall. stood
the one hs had noticed the first night. 1t
was filled with water, and beside it was his
food. lie was new certain, that, by some
mechanical contrivGncc, an opening was Oh
tanned through the iron wall, and that through
this opening the current Of air had found en-
trance. But how n>iseless For had a
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
appeared one even and uniform surface, while
to repeated and violent blows, there was 10
reverhrrating sound indicative of hollowncss.
This perplexing mystery had for time
withdrawn his thoughts from the windows i;
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 appearances. The remaining four
looked as the seven had looked; that is. occu-
pyng at irregular distances, the top of the
wall on that side of the dungeon. The tall
folding door. too. still seemed to stand beneath,
in the center of these four. as it had at first
stood in center of the seven. But he could
no longer doubt, what, on the preceding day,
he f,ncied might BE- the effect of visual dccep-
ton. The dungeon was smaller, the roof had
lowered-and the opposite ends had contract.
I'd the intermediate distance by space equal.
he thought, to that over which the three win.
dows had extended. He was lost in vain
faucies to account for these things. Some
foul. frightfnl pwrpose-some devilish torture
of mind and body-some unhrard of device
for producing exquisite misery, lurked. he was
sure. in what had taken place. Oppressed
with this belief, and distracted more by the
uncertainty of whatever fate imprhded, than
he could be dismayed he thought, by the
knowledge of the worst, he sat ruminating,
hour after hour, yielding his fears in success
sion to every haggard fancy. AT last n horri-
bic suspicion flashed across his mind. and he
started up with frantic mir. "Yes! it must
be so! see it feel the maddcning truth
like scorching flames upon my brain !-Eter-
nal God !-support me 1T must be so -
Yes, yes, that is to be my fate! Yon roof
will descend these walls will hem me round
and slowly, slowly crush me in their iron
arms! Lord God look down upon mo. and
in mercy strike me with instant death Oh,
nen0-On, DEVILS tnls your revenge!
He dashed himself upon the ground in az.
ony-tears burst from him, and the sweat
stood in large drops npon his face-he sobbed
aloud-he tore his hair--he rolled about like
one suffering intolcrable anguish Of body. and
would have bitten the iron floor beneath him
he breathcd fearful curses upon Tol6. and the
next moment passionate prayers to God for
instant death. Then the violence of his grief
became exhausted, and he lay still, weeping
as child would weep The twilight Of de.