Page:Iron shroud, or, Italian revenge (3).pdf/10

10 his hands, he found himself close to the walls. He remained motionless for a considerable time ; but nothing occurred during the remainder of the night to excite his attention, though ho continued to watch with unabated vigilance. The first approaches of the morning were visible through the grated windows, breaking, with faint divisions of light, the darkness that still pervaded every other part, long before Vivenzio was enabled to distinguish any object in his dungeon. Instinctively and fearfully he turned his eyes, hot and inflamed with watching, towards them. There were FOUR ! He could see only four ; but it might be that some intervening object prevented the fifth from being perceptible ; and he walked impatiently to ascertain if it were so. As the light strengthened, however, and penetrated every corner of the cell, other objects of amazement struck his sight. On the ground lay the broken fragments of the pitcher he had used the day before, and at a small distance from them, nearer the wall, stood the one he had noticed the first night. It was filled with water, and beside it was his food. He was now certain, that, by some mechanical contrivance, an opening was obtained through the iron wall, and that through this opening the current of air had found entrance. But how noiseless! For had a feather almost waved at the time, he must have heard it. Again he examined that part of the wall: but both to sight and touch it appeared one even and uniform surface, while to repeated and violent blows, there was no reverberating sound indicative of hollowness. This perplexing mystery had for a time withdrawn his thoughts from the windows ; but now directing bis eyes again towards them, he saw that