The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-11-01
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4 NARDO'S GHOST
4 "A GondolieF Found TO His Cost That
: It Is Not Safe to Speak Dis
;. respectfully OF Wan
dering GpiFite.
BY W. L. ALDEN.
Copyright, 1899. bv Erutn IHdYdmaa.

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!: Copyright. 1899. bv Ervtn IHard,no..
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When Lissandrc had the misfortune
to kill Nardo, there was scarcely q
gondolier in Venice who did not sym
pathiZe with him. Lissandro was
good tempered, jovial young fellow,
without @ single fault, unless 1t was
that he was free thinker. OF course
1t is very bad to be free thinker.
though, after all, 1t Is matter which
does not greatly concern any one ey-
cept the free thinker himself, and then
he can always change his opinion when
he comes to d:c and confess and be ab-
solved like any other Christian unless
he has the ill luck to be drownedewhere
there Is no priest at hand. Sandro was
always ready to help friend In dis
tress. and he nearly always had money
in his pocket. for he was SO frank and
honest In his ways With the foreigners
whom he rowed that he could nearly
always charge them ut least double the
tariff fare and collect it without max
ing them suspicious That so good
fellow and clever gondolier should
was certainly IL great pity, and the day
that Sandro went to prison more than
one friendly gondolier shed tears and
cursed the meddling Of the police in
the strongest possible language.
Sandro did not stay in prison longer
than about four months. Although ev-
erybody knew that ne had stabbed
Nardo and thrown his body into the
basin Mt the farther end Of the Riva
Degli Schiavoni, the body was never
found, and so the magistrate said that
there was not sufficient proof that Mar
do was dead and that Sandro must be
released with solemn warning never
TO stab another man.
While people were glad that Sendro
was released, there was general feel
ing that the magistrate had no right to
dispute Sandro's word. Had he not
said dozens Of times that he had been
obliged to kill Nardo because the latter
openly asserted that sandro's grand
father did not win the regatta in 1903,
whereas the flag that the grandfather
won is still hanging In Sandro's house7
It was certainly not polite In the mag
istrate to pay no attention to what
Sandro said and to decide TINT there
was no proof OF Nardo's death. But
magistrates have no regard for other
peoples feelings and that is the reason
why they are magistrates and send
poor men to prison for next to nothing.
When Lsssant7ro came OUT Of 5s.l, -
gondol'ers belonging to his traghetto
gave him dinner at the Osteyia della
Pace, in the Gale Lunga 8. Barnabo.
1T was capital dinner, consisting Of
fried fish and polenta and all the wine
that any one cared to call for. The
fish were beautifully cooked; the po-
lentn ;ggees 0s the best, golden In color
and As light as O feather: two slices Of
1t were all that O man wanted to eat,
80 generously thickssdid the landlord
serve 1t. AS for the wine, 1t was last
years Verona, reasonably pure, and
good and strong. When the dinner
was finished, tho guests lit genuine
Tuscan cigars that the landlord fur.
nished without charge. end e:ch man
began to drink In earnest.
Lissandro- had borne his imprison-
ment well. He was trife thinner
than formerly, but he was in excellent
health and spirits. He told once more
the familiar story of his dispute with
Nardo, Introducing several entirely
new variations which tended to show
his great forbenrance when the quarrel
began and the tremendous strength
and activity which he exercised when
the fatal Etruggle eliminated.
His coL:.rades unanimously agreed
that he could not have acted more no
bly, than he had acted and that there
were no terms strong enough to char
acterize the conduct Of the police :ii
arresting him for o matter which was
mono cs their business. Suddenly
grave Old gondolfer, who was regarded
as the ffther OF the traghetto and who
Ind be ~ absorbing his wine In COM
parativa silence, asked Sandro If he
did not fear that the ghost OF, Nardo
would appear to him.
'sThon knowsst,p said the old Condo
Her. that when q man has not had
Christian burial his ghost will wander
everywhere. trying to find some one
who will give him comfortable grave.
Now. Mardo must have beer carried
cut to sea, and tt sis my opinion that
some night he win come back and
haunt you"
eco away. Bartolors cried Sondro.
There are no such things as ghosts.
When d man dies, either that Is an end
Of him or else he goes so far away that
he never can find his way back. Be
sides, ] should not be Id the least
afraid OF q ghost. even ss there was
one who came TO- eee me. II I nm not \