Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 3).djvu/139

 off with the melancholy account that those brave men no longer existed.

Whilst those letters were on their way to cause a mortal affliction to their friends, the Count and Ferdinand were carried in a litter to the house of their preserver in Adrianople. This Turkish commander, as we have observed, had some traits of humanity in his composition, and following the impulse of the moment, had administered relief to the dying friends from compassion alone; but after they had been conveyed to his tent, the blood washed from their persons; the contents of their pockets examined, in which were memorandums that denoted their being men of some condition, the predominant passion of self-interest was a greater stimulative than tenderness towards affording them that unremitted attention which most certainly conduced to the preservation of their lives.

Ferdinand was the first restored to his senses, and a recollection of past events. He saw only Turks around him, and an elderly woman who officiated as a nurse. His rea-