The National tribune., 1881-10-15
THE IRON SHROUD.
BY WILLIAM MUDFORD.
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With intense anxiety, VivenziO looked forward
TO the return Of night; and, as it approached, he
resolved that no treacherous sleep should again
betray him. Instead of seeking his bed of straw
he continued to walk up and down his dungeon
till daylight, straining his eyes in every direc-
tion through the darkness, to watch for any ap-
pearanceS that might explain these mysteries.
While thus engaged, and, nearly as he could
Judge (by the time that afterward elapsed before
the morning came i'm, about two o'clock, there
was a slight, tremulous 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 only imaginary.
He listened. Not a sound could be heard
Presently, however, he felt a rush of cold air
blow upon him; and, dashing toward 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 perceptible
and. as Vivenzio stretched out his hands, he
found himself close to the walls. He remained
notionlesS for a considerable time; but nothing
occurred during the remainder of the night to
excite his attention, thoug ...E--.. .s
watch with unabated vigilant
The first approaches of ...-
visible through the grated
with faint divisions of light, the darkness that
still pervaded every other part, long before
Vi9enzio was enabled to distinguish any object
in his dungeon. InstinctiveIy and fearfully he
turned his eyes, hot and inf1amed with watching
toward them. There were FOUR! He could see
only four; but it might be some intervening
object prevented the fifth from becoming per
eeptible; and he waited impatiently to ascertain
if it were So As the light strengthened, how
ever, and penetrated every corner of the cell
other objects of amazement struck his sight
On the ground lay the broken fragments of the
pitcher he had used the day before, and at a
small distance from them, nearer to the wall
stood the one he had noticed the first night. 1t
was filed 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 a feather even 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
no reverberating sound indicative Of hollowness
This perplexing mystery had for a time with
drawn his thoughts from the windows; but now.
directing his eyes again toward them, he saw
that the fifth had disappeared in the same man
ner as the preceding two without the least dis
tinguishable alteration of external appearances
The remaining four looked as the seven had
originally looked; that is, occupying at regular
distances the top Of the wall on that side of the
dungeon. The tall folding-dOor, too, still seemed
20 stand beneath, in the centre of these four, as
1t had first stood in the centre of the seven. But
ne could no longer doubt what, ON the preceding
day, he fancied might be the effect of visual de-
ceptiOn. The dungeon aOas smaller The roof
had lowered; and the opposite ends had con-
tracted the intermediate distance by a space
equal, he thought, to that over which the three
windows had extended He was bewildered in
vain imaginings to account for these things
Some Gightful purpose some devilish 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 be dismayed, he
thought, by the knowledge of the worst, he sat
Illuminating, hour after hour, yielding his fears
IN succession to every haggard fancy. At last
n horrible suspicion flashed suddenly across his
rsaind, and he started up with frantic air
~Yes!" he exclaimed looking wildly round his
dungeon, and shuddering as he spoke,-"yes! it
must be so! | see it! | feel the maddening
truth like scOrching flames upon my brain
Eternal God! support me! it must be SOL Yes
yes that is to be my fate! Yon roof will de-
scend these walls will hem me round and
slowly, slowly, crush me in their iron arms