St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-16
CHAPTER TX.

| buildings which arose in the Middle ages.
1t has fine feudal aspect. 1t only wants
the knights in its Yaulted halls and the
ladies in their long brocaded robes and
pointed bonnets at its aTched windows. and
the archerS and croSSbOwmen on its machi-
colatioas. its battlemented galleries. It's
mangonals at the embrasures. its DOrtcullis
and its drawbridges. The stonework is still
intact; but the governor with his Austrian
uniform. the soldiers with their modern
weapons, the warders and turkeys who no
longer wear the particolored costume. half
yellow and half red. of the old days, strike
2 false note in the midst of all this magni-
ficence of the past.
1t was from the dOnion of this fortress
that Count Sandorf was endeavoring TO es-
cape during the last hours before his exc
cution. \ mad attempt, no doubt; for the
prisoners did not even know in what part
of the donjon their prison lay, nor anything
OF the country across which they would
have 10 journey after their escape. And
perhaps it was fortunate that their igno-
rance was complete in the matter. Had
they known more. they might have re-
coiled before the difficulties to say nothing
of the imposSibilitieS of such an enterprise.
1t is not that this province of Istria offers
no favorable chances for an escape. for no
matter what direction the fugitives took
they would reach the sea coast in a few
| hours. 1t is not that the streets of PiSino
are so carefully guarded that there is risk
| of being arrested at the very first step. But
to escape from the fortress and particularly
from the dOnjon occupied by the prisoners
had up TO then been considered impossible.
Even the idea had never occurred to any
one.
The situation and exterior arrangement
OF the donjon in the fortress of Pisino were
as follows: The donjOn occupies one side
| of the terrace with which the town here
ends. Leaning over the parapet of this ter
race the eye plunges into a deep ravine.
whose rugged sides, covered with thick
entanglements OF creeperS, are cut down
perpendicularly. Nothing overhangs
the wall; there is not step to
enable any one to ascend or descend; not a
fence TO halt at; not prominence TO seize
hold upon in any part of it; nothing but
/ the uncertain lines, smooth, rubbed, and
| irregular, which mark the oblique cleavage
of the rocks. In a word, il is an abyss
which attracts, fascinates. and never gives
back anything that drops into it.
Above this abyss rises one of the side
walls of the donjon. pierced with a few
windows giving light to the cells on the diff
| ferent floors. Were prisoner 10 lean out
of one of these openings he would recoil
with terror. lest vertigo drag him into the
void belowl And if he fell. what would be
his fate? His body would be dashed TO
pieces on the rocks at the bottom, or it
would be carried away by the torrent whose
current during flood is irresistible.
This abyss is the BucO. as it is called in
/ the district. Through il runs river known
as the Foiba. This river finds its only out
let in a cavern which it has gradually cut
out of the rocks, and into which ii falls
with the impetuosity of a tide-race or a
whirlpool. Where does il 90 as it passes
under the town? No one knows Where
does it reappear? OF this cavern, or rather
this channel, bored in the schistS and clays
no one knows the length, the height, or the
direction. Who can say what thousands
of angles, what forests of pillars supporting
the enormous supeTstructure of the fortress
and entire city its waters are dashed against
in their course? Many bold explorers, when
the water level has been neither too high
nor too low, have taken n light boat and
endeavored TO descend the FOiba through
the gloomy tunnel, but the arches have
been too low and have soon interpoSed an
impracticable obstacle. In fact. nothing
was known of this subterranean river.
| Perhaps it was lost in some still deeper
cavern. and perhaps it entered the Adriatic
below the tide mark.
Such. then, was the Buco, of which
/ Count Sandorf did not even know the exis-
tence; and rs the only escape was by the
window of his cell, which opened above the
Buco. he would be almost as certain to
meet his death here as if he stood in front
of the firing party on the morning OF his
execution.
Zathmar and Bathery waited but for the
! time to act. ready TO remain behind. if
necessary, and sacrifice themselves 10 help
| Count SandOrf, or ready to follow him if
| their fight would not hamper his.
Well all three go" said Sandorf
''Wait till we get out before we separator
Eight o'clock then struck from the clock
in the town. Tie prisoners had only twelve
hours to live.
Night began TO close ina night which
| promised To be very dark. Thick. almost
mOtionleSs, clouds mrolled themselves cum
brously across the sky. The atmosphere
was heavy. almost mbreathable, and sat
urated with electricity. a violent storm
was coming on. Lightning had not vet
| passed between these masses of vapor.
heaped around like so many accumulators.
but distant grOwlmgs We're heard along the
SUBMITS of the hills that encircle Pisino.
Under such circumstances offered. there
was some chance Of success, if an unknown
| gulf had not CAPPED beneath the feet of the
fugitiveS. In dark night they might not
| be seen. In a wild night they might not be
/ heard.
As Sandorf had instantly recognized.
! flight was only possible through the Win
dow OF the cell. To force the door, to cut
| into its strong plankS of oak. all bound and
| ironed, was not to be dreamt of. Besides.
/ the step of a sentinel resOUnded on the
/ fiaus Of tho corridor And apea ha l,o-
was cleared. how were they to find their
way through the labyrinth of the fortress?
/ How Were they to pass the portcullis and
! drawbridges, at which there were always so
many men on guard? On the side of the
BUco there was no sentinel; but the Buco
/ was a better defense 10 the face of the dom
! jon than a Gordon of SentrieS.
| Sandorf then went TO the window and
examined il, to see if they could squeeze
/ through.
This window was exactly three and a
| half feet wide and two feet high. The gap
widened as il ran outwardS through the wall.
which hereaboutS was nearly four feet
/ thick A solid crossbar of iron guarded Il.
/ 1t was fixed in the side near the interior
opening. There were none of those wooden
/ boards which allow the light only 10 enter
from above, for they would have been use
less, owing TO the position of the opening
If then the crOssbar could be removed or
displaced, it would be easy to get through
| the window, which was not unlike an en-
! brasure in fortress wall.
But once the passage was free, how were
they to make the descent down the per
pendiculaI side? BY ladder? The priS-
oner had not one, and could not make one
By the bed-clothes? They had only the
heavy wooden counterpanes thrown on the