Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-07-13

TO come back, and, fearing that ne had
neglected his duty while aslep F1dello
sprang up and ran down the marble
corridors.
lie listened at the door OF the doge's
chamber and heard the full sonorous
breathings of sleeping man.
Filled with fear, he turned back anu
sought his own room. He would enter
and throw himself gently down beside
Andrello; but the moment he opened the
door he stopped and stared at the bed.
The couch was empty; but the fisher
boys jacket lay where he had cast II
while its owner was not to be seen.
Where can he be-" cried Fidello.
Surely left him asleep in my chamber,
and he does not know the intricacies OF
the ducal palace. What ii the guards
should find him among the shadows Oh
the corridors? They would make snort
work of Andrello and the nets would
never see him again.
He fed from the room and pauslng a
moment to think which way the fisher
| boy might have gone he ran off and
opened door which was always kept
unlocked as it led TO the underground
apartments of'the palace and then TO
| the river.
IN THE LION ROOM.
Vain!y did Fidello search the winding
ways of the dark palace OF the doge's
He looked every where for his guest,
! now and then stopping long enough to
/ listen in certain corridors in which he
dared not speak above whisper for fear
of rousing the guards who watched that
part of the doge's stronghold.
HE can't be in the lion room" said
/ the boy TO himself But there is no
I telling whittier he has gone"
He found his way to one Of the strang-
| est rooms in the great palace and open
/ ed a door which taxed all his strength.
This was the lion room, so-called by
! the statue of lion in bronze, the fore
parts Of which stood at one Of the walls
while the rest of the animal seemed tC
be within the wall itself.
Fidello had seen this monster lion a
thousand times, but he did not know the
secret connected with it; and as he en-
tered the chamber he turned toward
| the wall where the statue vas.
All at once a bright light dazzled him
as he fell against the wall alongside the
/ lions head he heard a strange rOiSe and
/ the next moment to his horror saw the
lions mouth OPEN
As the monster was three times as
I large as the largest lion Fidello had
ever seen at the ducal shows, he could
/ only stare in wonder at the mechanism
/ and his wonder was increased when he
/ saw Andrello, the fisher boy, drop from
the mouth and stand for a moment on
\ me mosaic floor of the chamber.
Andrello had stepped from the lions
/ head, and the moment he touched the
I floor the mouth closed, shutting off the
hsl1t which had dazsd the doge's page
Then he heard the footsteps OF the
] fisher boy in the dark as he quilted the
place and with steps as stealthy he fol
lowed him.
AnGrello went back to the boys sleep
ing apartments and threw himself up
on the couch which he had left some
time before.
The boy is a spy against my master,
the doge," thought the little page. "de
may be fisher. but he knows as much
about the ducal palace as he does about
mending rets. Shall | rouse my mas
ter? Tomorrow l will see that Andrea
10 no longer betrayS my hospitality. He
belongs to the conspirators against the
dCge l know he does"
He slipped to the bed and lay down
Iaside Andrello. In a short time he
was asleep and whsn he avoke the sun
vas Frightening the walls Of the palaces
Of Venice and Ardrello was stretching
himself for the day