Volume II Part 68 (2/2)
At that trying moment I did not care much for the view; but later on I found that a sweet and pleasant wind cah the hen it was opened, and te for the poor wretch who had to breathe the sultry prison air, especially in the hot season
As soon as I got into ht in, and went away, saying that he would have the reht tofor the stor idea that all my pains and contrivances were of no use, nevertheless I felt neither sorry nor repentant for what I had done, and Ito happen, and thus keptupthat thisto escape when all was ready
Nevertheless, though I could have escaped three days sooner, I thought my punishment too severe, all the more as I had put off my escape from motives of prudence, which seemed to me worthy of reward, for if I had only consultedTo controvert the reasons which ust, a special revelation would have been requisite; and though I had read ”Mary of Agrada” I was not h for that
CHAPTER XXVIII
The Subterranean Prisons Known as the Wells--Lawrence's Vengeance--I Enter into a Correspondence With Another Prisoner, Father Balbi: His Character--I Plan With Him a Means of Escape--How I Contrived to Let Him Have My Pike I Am Given a Scoundrelly Co when two of the guards brought s, and for two hours I saw no one, although the door of endered hts, but I could not fix exactly on the reason of it I only knew that I had everything to fear, and this knowledge made me brace up my mind so that I should be able to meet calmly all possible misfortunes
Besides The Leads and The Fours the State Inquisitors also possess certain horrible subterranean cells beneath the ducal palace, where are sent h they be thought worthy of it
These subterranean prisons are precisely like tombs, but they call them ”wells,” because they always contain two feet of water, which penetrates frorating being only a square foot in size If the unfortunates condemned to live in these sewers do not wish to take a bath of filthy water, they have to remain all day seated on a trestle, which serves theiven a pitcher of water, some thin soup, and a ration of army bread which they have to eat immediately, or it becomes the prey of the enormous water rats arm in those dreadful abodes Usually the wretches condemned to The Wells are imprisoned there for life, and there have been prisoners who have attained a great age A villain who died whilst I was under the Leads had passed thirty-seven years in The Wells, and he was forty-four when sentenced Knowing that he deserved death, it is possible that he took his iht save death His nauelin A French the last war against the Turks in 1716, under the co, who uelin was the uised himself as a Turk, and penetrated into the Mussulman quarters, but at the same ti detected in this course he certainly had reason to be thankful for being allowed to die in The Wells The rest of his life er, but no doubt he often said, 'Du, in Moravia, prisons fearful in another way
There mercy sends the prisoners under sentence of death, and not one of them ever survives a year of i the two hts and the oing to be plunged in one of these horrible dens, where the wretched inhabitants feed on idle hopes or becoht well send hiatory
At last I heard hurried steps, and I soon sarence standing beforeat the an by ordering ive him the hatchet and the tools I had used to pierce the floor, and to tell hi, and quite cal about At this reply he gave orders that I should be searched, but rising with a deter taken off my clothes I said to them, ”Do your duty, but let no one touch me”
They searched my mattress, turned my bed inside out, felt the cushi+ons of
”You won't tell me, then, where are the instruments hich you made the hole It's of no matter, as we shall find a way to make you speak”
”If it be true that I have ave me the tools, and that I have returned them to you”
At this threat, which lee, probably because he had been abusing them, he stamped his feet, tore his hair, and went out like one possessed The guards returned and brought me allup ave me a little air I thus found myself confined in a narrow space without the possibility of receiving the least breath of air from any quarter Nevertheless, reat extent, as I ot off cheaply In spite of his training, Lawrence had not thought of turning the ar myself still possessor of the iron bar, I thanked Providence, and thought ard the bar as means by which, sooner or later, I should ht, as e in ht some insufferable wine, and some water I should not have cared to drink All the rest was of a piece; dry salad, putrid lish biscuit He cleaned nothing, and when I asked hiuard arainst the wall, on the floor, and above all under my bed I looked on with an unuard did not sound the ceiling ”That way,” said I to myself, ”will lead me out of this place of torments” But for any such project to succeed I should have to depend purely on chance, for all my operations would leave visible traces The cell was quite new, and the least scratch would have attracted the notice of my keepers
I passed a terrible day, for the heat was like that of a furnace, and I was quite unable to make any use of the food hich I had been provided The perspiration and the lack of nourishment made me so weak that I could neither walk nor read Next day my dinner was the saht me made me draw back from it instantly ”Have you received orders,” said I, ”to kill er and heat?”
He locked the door, and went out without a word On the third day I was treated in the same manner I asked for a pencil and paper to write to the secretary Still no answer
In despair, I eatth to avenge e told ht, and in the , when the scoundrel appeared, I contentedthat I would kill hihed athis lips
I began to think that he was acting under orders from the secretary, to whom he must have told all I knew not what to do I strove between patience and despair, and felt as if I were dying for want of food At last on the eighth day, with rage in my heart and in a voice of thunder, I bade hiive me an account of my money He answered drily that I should have it the next day Then as he was about to go I took o and euard to take it, and during the disgusting operation opened a hich he shut as soon as the affair was done, so that in spite of ue-stricken atmosphere I determined to speak to hier cooled, for before giving me the account of my adin had sent e bottle of water, which seemed drinkable, and a nice roasted fowl; and, besides this, one of the guards opened the ts When he gave me the account I only looked at the suive the balance to his ith the exception of a sequin, which I told hiuards ith him I thus made friends with these felloho thanked me heartily
Lawrence, who remained alone with me on purpose, spoke as follows:
”You have already told me, sir, that I myself furnished you with the tools to make that enormous hole, and I will ask no ot the materials to make a lamp?”