Page:The Necromancer, or, The Tale of the Black Forest Vol. 2.djvu/250

 other names of the same stamp. The fury of his tyrant being raised to the highest degree by that language, he inflicted his blows with so much violence, that Wolf, in a fit of despair struck him to the ground with the but end of his gun. He was instantly seized, carried to the prison, and sentenced by a court martial to run the gantlet.

The day of execution appeared, the soldiers were drawn up, and his back was bared, when lo! the mark of his ignominy was seen between his shoulders. It being evident by the sign of a gallows, which was seen between his shoulders, that he had been under the hands of the common hangman, he was declared unworthy to receive military punishment, and sentenced to work in the fortification.

Confined with the dregs of human kind, and ever in company with the basest of villains, his weak virtuous resolutions died away by degrees. He once more began to consider himself as the sport of injustice and bar-