Page:Iron shroud, or, Italian revenge (2).pdf/20

 through one of the windows. What a thrill of joy shot through his soul at the sight! It was a precious link, that united him, for the moment, with the world beyond. There was ecstacy in the thought. As he gazed, long and earnestly, it seemed as if the windows had lowered sufficienly for him to reach them. With one bound he was beneath them—with one wild spring he clung to the bars. Whether it was so contrived, purposly to madden with delight the wretch who looked, he knew not; but at the extremity of a long vista, cut through the solid rocks, the ocean, the sky, the setting sun, olive groves, shady walks, and in the farthest distance, delicious glimpses of magnificient Sicily, burst upon his sight. How exquisite was the cool breeze as it swept across his cheek, loaded with fragrance! He inhaled it as though it were the breath of continued life. And there was a freshness in the landscape, and in the rippling of the calm green sea, that fell upon his withering heart like dew upon the parched earth. How he gazed and panted, and still clung to his hold! somtimes hanging by one hand, sometimes by the other, and then grasping the bars with both, as loth to quite the smiling paradise outstretched before him; till exhausted, and his hands swollen and benumbed, he droped helpless down, and lay stunned for a considerable time by the fall.

When he recovered, the glorious vision had