The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-11-01
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NARDo'S GHOST
A Gondoliac found TO His Cost That
It Is Not Safe to Speak Dis
respectfully Of Wan
dexing Spirits.
BY w. I. ALDEN.
Copyright. 1909. bv Eruin IVdrdmcn.

{: BY w. /. ALDEN.
Copyright. 1899. by Erutn IVdrdmcn.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
When Lissandro had the misfortune
to kill Nartlo, there was scarcely a
gondoner in Venice who did not SYM
pathize with him. Lissandro was a
good tempered, jovial young fellow,
without single fault, unless it was
that he was free thinker. OF course
1T IS very bad to be free thinker,
though, after all, It is q matter which
does not greatly concern any one ex-
cept the free thinker himself, and then
lhe can always change his opinion when
:lhe comes to die and confess and be abb
solved like any other Christian unless
he has the Ill luck to be drownedswhere
there is no priest at hand. Sandro was
always ready to help friend in dis
Itress, and he nearly always had money
In his pocket, for he was SO frank and
honest in his ways with the foreigners
whom he rDwed that ne could nearly
always charge them at least double the
tariff fare and collect it without max
ing them suspicious. That so good a
fellow and clever q gondolier should
have been compelled to stab man
was certainly great pity, aoI the day
that Sandro went to prison niSre 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 ey-
erybody knew that he had stabbed
Nardo !, thrown his body into the
basin It the farther end Of the Riva
lDegli 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
ITO stab another man.
While people were glad that Sandro
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 die. not win the regatta in 1793,
whereas tie flag that the grandfather
won is still hanging In Sandro's house?
1T was certainly not polite in the mag
iistrate to pay no attention to what
Sandro said and to decide that 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
Door men to prison for next to nothing.
When Lsssandro came out OF jail, IL
gondoliers belonging to his traghetto
gave him dinner at the Osteria della
Pace, in the calle Lunga s. Barnabo.
1T was capital dinner, consisting ct
fried fish and polenta and all the wine
that any one cared to call for. The
fish were beautifully cooked; the po-
llenta was Of the best, golden In color
and as light as 9 feather; two slices OF
lit were all that q man wanted to eat,
SO generously thick did the landlord
serve it. AS for the wine, it was last
years Verona, reasonably pure, and
good and strong. When the dinner
was finished, the guests Lit genuine
Tuscan cigars that the landlord fur
nished without charge, and each man
began to drink in earnest
Lissandro had borne his imprison-
ment well. He was a 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 Sorbearance when the quarrel
began and the tremendous strength
and activity which he exercised when
the fatal struggle eliminated.
His comrades 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 in
arresting him for matter which was
none Of their business. Suddenly q
grave old gondolier, who was regarded
as the father Of the traghetto and who
had been absorbing his wine in COM
parative silence, asked Sandro II he
did not fear that the ghost Of Nardo
would appear to him.
''Thou knowest," said the old Condo
Her, that when man has not had
Christian burial his ghost will wander
everywhere, trying to find some one
who will give him comfortable grave.
Now, Nardo must have. been carried
cut to sea, and it is my opinion that
some night he will come back and
haunt you"
"Go away, Bartolo!" cried Sandro.
''There are no such things as ghosts.
When man dies, either that is On end
Of him or else he goes so far away that
he never can find his way back. Be-
sides, should not be In the least
afraid of a ghost, even If there was
*o COO Tf nm not