Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1880-06-04
NO 1872.
Gales ano Skettbes.
From the Chambers Journal.
Ia SERENlSSlMN,
Continued from Yesterday. }
\ TALE OF ANCIENT VENICE.

which he dimly guessed Sir John would
have tried to strike one blow at least for
his lite or for his liberty; but the cloak in
which he had been raped up was SO ar
tistieally and 81 securely fastened that he
could not move a muscle nor utter cry.
There was no help for il, and he dogged-
ly awaited his fate. The voices round him
seemed 10 hold a short conference. and
then they lifted him from the ground. and
carrying him n short distance. deposited
him in what he felt to be a gondola. The
Journey was not long, though TO him it
seemed an age. and very soon the rocking
motion ceased. They evidently had
reached their destination. A few seconds
more and he was landed in the same un-
ceremonious manner.
After depriving him of his sword and
securing his hands. bis captors released
him from the folds of the mantle in which
he had been almost choked. lie found
himself in a very small passage. dimly
lighted and intensely damp. The low
bceiling, the strong stone walls. the mas
sive 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. Civ
ing much time for reflection. or of asking
him any questions. his captors opened one
of the cells. thrust him in. and bolted the
door. Left alone in the most absolute
darkness, our friend CROPPED about rs well
as his tied hands would allow him until
he found stone bench, on which he drop
ped. completely unnamed by the novelty
and the horror of his position.
lie had heard of prisoners being
kept in these state prisons for months
even for years, without light. with Just
enough of the coarsest food TO keep them
alive, and without the shadow of iudg-
ment Others have been tried and exccu-
ted within these dark walls. and their
friends outside had never known their
fate. Was he too going to disappear
without struggle from this worldp Was
his body going to he dropped into the
Canal grandc ?'' Or was he to lingcr in
his cell until his youth, his strength. and
perhaps his mind were gone. to be re-
leased only wreck of his former self, rs
a warning to others? There were many
in Venice, poor shattered beings, heart
broken. halfcrized, stunned by every
BODY, who had once been the leaders of
faehion, of science, of politics. until an
anonymous note dropped into the Lions
mouth had caused their arrest, and their
trialless detention in the underground
issima.
But then, who could have denounced
him? Who could have an interest in des-
troying him in this cowardly fashion, All
the people he knew were above suspicion;
and vet even the Serenissima would not
have arrested an Englishman. "A Kings
messenger, without some good reason. In
that dreadful silence. broken only by the
quiet plashing of the water on the stone
walls in which he was imprisoned. his
memory was particularly vivid. and re-
called to his mind all the incidents of his
STAY AT last he remembered those few
hot foolish words he had used that very
night; they, and they alone could be the
cause of his present condition. This. how
ever, brought no relief; it aggravated on
| " his fears and his-despondency, 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 fell into dull. drowsy state
of lfuncOnsciousness, staring blindly
in the darkness. listening vacantly in the
vain hope of catching some sound, how
ever faint. of that outside world he had so
recently left. The silence was as CON-
plete as the darkness that surrounded him,
and hours passed without bringing any
change Now and thena mufiled sound
reached his ears. Was it footstep in the
passage? Was it wave little higher
than the others Was it only plaintive
cry of the seamew? Or was it the dying
gasp of fellow-prsoner He could not
tell. After "A very long time. of which he
could not even guess the length, he dis
tinctlv heard noise as Of bolts and KEYS
"a
and food Of light illumined every cor
ner of his dismal cell. Dazzled ut first by
1.-THE glare of the torches, he could not see
the men by whom they were carried; 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 letters, and his guards had quietly
surrounded HIM. Without word, with
out sound, they led him on in their
midst. Through dark halls and narrow
, staircases, through crooked passages and
low beeting they marched as noiselessly
, as group Of ghosts surrounding mortal
/, man.
. At last their goal is reached; door is
|, flung open, and Sir John is ushered into a
. spacious room. At one end, on a raised
platform, sit ten judges, all lmasked, all
c draped in large black cloaks. BY their
i, sides, bnt little lower down, are the
. scribes of this silent tribunal. Judges and
scribes as motionless as if they had been
; statues. and not human beings. The first
. glimpses Of dawn struggling through the
: painted windows. powerless as yet TO su-
percede the wax candles, gave to the whole
4 scene the most weird aspect Outside. all
!. was sleeping and no sound reached the
y inmates Of this hall to remind them that 4
powerful city, numcrouspopulation, sur
rounded their silent abode.
: As soon as the several actors in this
n strange scene had reached their propeI
: places, man still masked, and dressed
+ in the same dark hue. began in a monoto
nous slow tone to give his evidence
Though muffied by the folds of his mask
his voice was peculiarly distinct and clear
> and Sir John at once knew it as being tn
same he had heard when he was arrested