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"No, no, no," said the Acolyte, in a hurried whisper; "the philosopher and I are right good friends, sworn good friends, very especially bound together; but should it come to this, that one of us must needs throw before the footstool of the Emperor the head of the other, I think thou wouldst not advise that I, whose hairs have not a trace of silver, should be the last in making the offering; therefore we will say nothing of this mishap, but give thee full power, and the highest charge to seek for Count Robert of Paris, be he dead or alive, to secure him within the dungeons set apart for the discipline of our own corps, and when thou hast done so, to bring me notice.
"Sylvan! what, ho!" said the voice again; "whom hast thou got for a companion? some of the fiends, or ghosts of murdered men, who they say are frequent in these dungeons? or dost thou converse with the old blind rebel Grecian? or, finally, is it true what men say of thee, that thou canst talk intelligibly when thou wilt, and only gibberest and chatterest for fear thou art sent to work?
They all endeavoured to dissuade him from it, and set before his eyes the rigorous laws of that government; that the ports were narrowly observed by vigilant and faithful officers, who were neither to be circumvented nor bribed with presents; that the Mandarins were cruel to all strangers; that, the year before, some Portuguese seamen being cast by tempest on the coast of Canton, had been severely whipped, and afterwards inclosed in dark dungeons, where, if they were not already dead, they were still exercised with new punishments; that, for himself, the least he could expect was perpetual imprisonment, which was not the business of an apostle, who designed to run from place to place, and propagate the faith through all the East.
"Undoubtedly, sir, it will. Dawsbergen hardly will make a fight to release Gabriel. He is safe in your dungeons. If they want him now, they must come to your strongholds. They will not do it, believe me," said Ravone simply. "Alas, I am faint and sore, as you suspect. May I lie down for an hour or two? In that time you will have heard from your wardens and my story will be substantiated.
These complaints no one heeded. He was taken deep into the dungeons of Sanderberg Castle, and locked up in a dark and narrow prison vault destitute of every convenience, his only companion being a half-witted dwarf who had long been in his service.
Noting armed sentinels pacing the sea wall at a certain spot, Kirk called his companion's attention to them. "That's Chiriqui Prison, isn't it?" he asked. "Yes. They say some of the dungeons are almost under the sea. It must be a terrible place." "I've developed a morbid interest in jails," he remarked. "I'm quite an authority on them.
How mercifully can our great Creator treat his creatures, even in those conditions in which they seemed to be overwhelmed in destruction! How can he sweeten the bitterest providences, and give us cause to praise him for dungeons and prisons! What a table was here spread for me in a wilderness, where I saw nothing at first but to perish for hunger!
But I was glad to learn from the few who ventured to speak in a whisper, that the tenants of the dungeons of Spielberg are less numerous now than they used to be, and the time is not, in all probability, distant, when the practice of filling them at the caprice of a minister will be discontinued altogether.
Were there not on judicial record attestation and evidence, solemn and circumstantial, of powers analogous to those now exercised by Margrave, of sorcerers instigating to sin through influences ascribed to Demons; making their apparitions glide through guarded walls, their voices heard from afar in the solitude of dungeons or monastic cells; subjugating victims to their will, by means which no vigilance could have detected, if the victims themselves had not confessed the witchcraft that had ensnared, courting a sure and infamous death in that confession, preferring such death to a life so haunted?
The Cardinal of Guise, being seized on the same day in which his brother was assassinated, was imprisoned in this castle, and after passing a night in the dungeons, was executed on the day following. The dungeons are the most horrible holes which it is possible to conceive: the descent to them entirely indisposed us from going down.
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