Page:Once a Week Volume 7.djvu/679

. 6, 1862.] “After a considerable time spent in this chamber the count left it by the same way we had entered it; but, returning through the labyrinth, he continued to follow the same guide which had led us thus far, and in a few minutes we found ourselves in a comparatively small apartment, the contents of which excited in my mind a feeling as strong, though different in character, as that I had experienced in the chamber we had just left.

“If you had been permitted to enter the Emperor of Morocco’s treasure-chamber, some years ago, you might be able to form some idea of what I felt at the sight of the vast riches heaped up in this chamber. There were vessels of gold so pure that the lapse of centuries had not tarnished them; vessels innumerable and of the strangest and most beautiful designs. Some of them were arranged on elaborately sculptured shelves, but a much larger number were lying in a confused heap on the ground, as though brought there from some other place and thrown down hastily. Those the count took up he handled reverently, and as though the only value they had in his eyes arose from the uses to which they had been devoted, or from the hands that had grasped them in past ages. My heart beat faster as I looked upon such an accumulation of riches, and I was devising in my mind how they could be removed away with the greatest secrecy, when I was startled by the count suddenly saying:

‘My candle has gone out; give me another, quickly!’

“I had not got another; but his request instantly attracted my attention to that I held in my hand, and I will leave it to you, who have been in situations where your life depended on the light you carried, to imagine the shock it gave me when I observed that my own light was on the point of going out also. The rich vessels and the jewelled ornaments were at once forgotten, and we turned and left the chamber to get as rapidly as possible through the stony labyrinth which lay between us and safety. The count took the candle from me and led the way, as fast as it was safe to go, without running the risk of extinguishing it. There was so little of it that I tore the sleeves off my dress as we went along, and putting one end between my teeth, I twisted the other so as to have it ready to light in case the candle should be burnt out before we had got through the maze. My precaution was, however, rendered of no avail by the sudden dropping of the wick into the last remains of the wax, where it was extinguished as suddenly as though it had been plunged in water. I put my hand in my pocket, but I must have left the matches on the floor of the apartment we had first entered. I don’t like to recall what I felt when this happened. I caught hold of the count’s dress and held it as he groped his way along in the thick darkness, hoping now we had got so far through it, he might be able to feel the rest of the way. But the constructor of this maze had been too skilful. Hour after hour I followed the man to whom I owed my destruction, as I then thought, and we were still wandering in the narrow passages, and, so far as we could judge, we were as far from the outlet as ever. At last the count stood still, and, taking my hands in his, he said:

‘Paulo, I can go no further. I have struggled to the utmost, because I would have saved your young life if I could. As for my own, I could not resign it with so much willingness, anywhere, as within these sacred walls. My only wish is that I could breathe my last in the presence of the glorious spirits who once dwelt in those kingly bodies you saw in the chambers, lighted by that everlasting flame Adieu, Paulo. If you escape, all I have left on earth is yours; but do not let the Arabs discover the entrance to this holy place.’ The count loosed his hold of my hands and stretched himself on the ground with a sigh of relief.

“I hesitated whether to leave him, and make the utmost use of my strength in endeavouring to find my way out, or to remain and die with him, for I had less dread of death with him than of perishing alone in the darkness. All of a sudden I remembered that I had some brandy in my pocket, and taking out the flask I groped about till I felt the count’s hand, into which I put it, and begged him to swallow a little. After much persuasion he seemed to become sensible of what I wished him to do, and made an effort to rise, in which I assisted him. A few seconds, after swallowing it, he got on his feet and began groping his way along as before, and when he showed signs of fainting, I gave him a little more. I refrained from taking any as long as I could, but nature gave way at last; and just as I began to hear noises which deafened me, and to feel as though I had swollen so large that the passage was no longer wide enough to allow of my going any further, the count fell heavily on the stone pavement, and I sank down beside him.

“Of all deaths, that from exhaustion is the most easy and painless; nay, I may go further and say, that it is actually a pleasing sensation. It was with a feeling of exquisite relief that I closed my eyes and resigned myself to what I believed was my last sleep—very different indeed to the sensation I experienced when I opened them again in the profound and awful darkness, with hunger gnawing at my stomach, and a terrible pain in my head, which nearly maddened me. With all this there was the desire to live, and I managed to get on my feet, and was in the act of staggering onward, when I suddenly recollected the count. I stooped down and touched his face, and that touch was sufficient to tell me that he was past all knowledge and suffering. I rose and crept along, as well as I was able, till I was so feeble from want of food and fatigue, that I was constantly falling against the wall or beating myself against the abrupt angles until my face seemed beaten to pieces, and I could feel the blood trickling down within my clothes. Still I kept moving, determined that I would not rest again while I retained the power of standing. My perseverance was at last rewarded by the faintest possible glimmer of light,—so faint that no eyes but such as had been in absolute darkness for many hours could have perceived it. Trembling with excitement, I moved towards the opening through which