Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-07-09

] Even uttef tuebe WORDS, lne import OF
which he dimly guessed, Sir John would have
tried to strike one blow at least for his life or
| for his liberty but the cloak in which he had
been wrapped up was so artistically and so
securely fastened that he could not move a
muscle or utter n cry. There was no help for
it, and he doggedly awaited his fate. The
voices round him seemed to hold short con-
| ference and then they lifted him from the
ground, and, carrying him a short distance,
| deposited him in what he felt to be n Condo
la. The journey was not long, though to
him it seemed an age, aud very soon the
rocking motion ceased. They evidently had
reached their destination. A few seconds
more and he was landed in the same uncere-
mOnious manner.
After dopriving him of his sword and So
curing his hands his captors released him
from the folds of the mantle in which he had
been almost chukcd. He found himself in a
very small passage, dimTy lighted and in
tenscly damp. The low ceiling, the strong
! stone walls, the massive iron doors that lined
it, reminded him at once of all he had heard
and read about the State prisons of Venice,
| and his heart sank within him. Without
however, giving him much time for rehec-
tion, or asking him any questions, his captors
| opened one of the cells, thrust him in, and
bolted the door. Left alone in the most alb
solute darkness, our friend groped about him
until be found q stone bench. on which he
dropped completely unnamed by the novel.
! ty and the horror of his position He had
heard Of prisoners being kept in these State
! prisons for months, even for years, without
| light. with Just enough of the coarest food
to keep them alive, and without the shadow
! OF u Judgment. Others had been tried and
executed within these dark walls, aud their
| fri, nds outside had never known their fate.
Was lie, too, going to disappear without a
| struggle from this world? Was his body 60
! ing to be dropped into the "canal grande p
or was he TO liugcr in his cell until his youth,
J his strength, and perhaps his mind were
! gone, to be released only wreck of his for
mer self, as warning to others ? There
were many in Venice, poor, shattered beings,
L'art brokon, half crazed Stunned by every
body, who had once been the leaders Of fash
ion, of science, Of politics, until an anony-
nous note dropped into the Lions mouth
had caused their arrest and their trialless de-
tentun in the underground-or rather under
water-prsons of the Serenissima.
But then, who could have denounced him
Who could have an interest in destroying him
in this cowardly fashion? All the people he
knew were above suspicion and yet even
the Srrenissima would not have arrested an
Euglshman, n Kings messenger, without
some good reason. In that dreadful silence
blbAtl tLl1 bl lLt Alultl pushing Ol llE VIII
ter on the stone walls in which he was i'm
prisoned, his memory wns particularly vivid,
aud recalled to his mind all the incidents of
his stay. At last he remembered those few
foolish words he had used that very night;
they, and they alone, could be the cause of
his present condition. This, however brought
no relief; it only aggravated his fears and his
dependency, since he well knew what awful
punishments were inflicted on those who, to
use the Venetian phrase, "blasphemed the
government"
Having settled the cause of his arrest he
gradually fen into dull drowsy state Of half
unconsciousness, staring blindly in the dark
ness, listening yacantly in the blind hope of
catching some sound however faint of that
outside world he had so recently left. The
silence was rs complete as the darkness that
surrounded him, and hours passed without
bringing any change. Now and then a muf-
fed sound reached his ears Was it foot
step in the passageY Was it n wave a little
higher than the othersy Was it ouly the
plaintiye cry of the seamew? Or was it the
dying gasp Of a fellow prisoner? He could
not tell. After very long time, of which he
could not even guess the length he distinct
ly heard noise as of bolts and keys at his
prison door suddenly it opened. aud flood
of light illuminated every corner of his dis
NAL cell. Dazzled at first by the glare of the
torches, he could not see the men by whom
they were OaTried: but gradually, as his eyes
grew accustomed to the light, he saw they
were all armed all masked and all dressed in
black. In the meantime his hands had been
released of their fetters, and his guards had
quietly surrounded him. without word,
without a sound, they led him on in their
midst. Through dark balls and narrow stair
cases, through crooked passages and low
beetling doors they marched as noiselessly as
group Of ghosts surrounding n mortal man.
At last their goal is reached a door is flung
open, and Sir John is ushered into a spacious
room. At one end, on a raised platform, sit
ten judges, all masked, all draped in large
black cloaks By their side, but a little low
er down, are the scribes of this silent tribune.
Judges and scribes are motionless as if they
had been statutes and not human beings
The first glimpses of dawn struggling through
the painted windows, powerless as yet to SUI
persede the wax candles, gave TO the whole
scene the most weird aspect. Outside, all
was sleeping and no sound reached the in
mates of this hall to remind them that pow
erful city, numerous population, surround
ed their silent abode.
As soon rs the several actors in this strange
scene had reached their proper places, man
still masked and dressed in the same dark
hue began in monotonous slow tone to give
his evidence. Though muffled by the folds
of his mask his voice was peculiarly distinct
aud clear, and Sir John at once knew it as
being the same he had heard when he was
arrested. Cold and pitiless as steel without
a tremor and without pause, the voice re-
peated all tho words used by the culpnt
when, in his rash burst of passion he had de-
ridsd and Knocked the knowledge and power
of the Serenissima. Slowly and regularly the
words followed each other as the links
Of n l4puilapaH obaiY, ctaa1i1xr In.
drops of rain on a winters day. The pens o:
the scribes, creaking as they hurried over the
paper, made n fit accompaniment TO this re-
cital. Except for them, all was as notion
less, as STILL as if no human hearts were beat
ing under those black silk mantles 1t end
ed at last and with a sense of relief Sir
John strained his senses to see, to hear what
would follow.
After short pause the judge who sat at
the centre of the table stood up and address,
ed him in these terms ''You have heard
the evidence against you; now follow us and
hear your sentence"
No cross-examination, no defence was al
lowed by the laws of this Council. Rising
together as if moved by single mind, the
funeral procession followed its leader and left
the hall by the door through which Sir John
had entered it. Again through the same
winding passages, again down the same mar
row steps, silently and noselessly they glided
like ghosts returning to their graves. Sur
rounded by his guards, Sir John followed i'm
mediately after the last of the judges, won
dering all the time what was to be his fate
When they reached the lowest floor of the
building, and were nearing again the loath-
some cell from which he had so lately been
taken, the cortage divided, and Sir John was
brought face to face with the senior judge.
you have insulted the Serenissimai you
have denied its power of Furnishing CRIME be-
cause you have been robbed of paltry hand
kerchief, and it had not been Immediately
found and given back to you. Now look!"
As he said these last words the masked judge
stepped on one side and directed Sir Johns
gaze to a darker corner of the dark passage.