“The same stalwart devil who had extinguished the lamps, now relighted them, one by one. The scene which came slowly into view from the darkness was horrible in the extreme.
“Those who had not been struck during the melée immediately began to raise those who were extended in a sea of blood, their chests gashed and their arms slashed by deep blows from the knife.
“A sickening odour filled the already vitiated atmosphere. The combatants pattered across the bloody floor; some crowded about the wounded, others calmly wiped their bloody knives upon their handkerchiefs. Two or three who were wounded, but who had not fallen, with bent necks, examined with cold disdain the wounds they had received.
“The spectacle was at once sinister and yet full of courage, hideous and attractive, abject and full of grandeur. I wished to fly, and yet, when the moment of departure came, it was necessary to tear me away.
“And this is what is known as Cacciata.”
“What a horrible scene!” exclaimed Knoulton. “One would hardly suppose it possible that such atrocities could be committed in a civilised country.”
“I was, as I have already told you, young at the time, but it made so deep an impression on me that I shall never forget it for the remainder of my life.”
“And your friend the count?”
“Oh, he died a violent death. He was stabbed in the street by a hired bravo some years after the tragic affair he had taken me to. He was a bad lot, had sold his best friends, and got himself into some scrape, the rights of which I never knew, but it ended in his death. I have seen a good many horrible sights since then, have been cast adrift on the ocean, and only saved by what one might term almost a miracle, and have been driven into this cursed port at last. Oh, how I sigh to be again on the blue water! You cannot understand the misery of my situation—’cause why? You see you have been brought up differently to what I was, and don’t and can’t feel the punishment of being cooped up under hatches for life. Death is happiness in comparison with it—perfect happiness.”
“You must hold up, and not give way to desponding thoughts. If you do—”