His face was pale and haggard, and the whole of one side of it, the eye, cheek bone, and forehead were bruised.
This was the mark that Jefferson had set upon him.
This was the bold American's only vengeance for the deathblow which the brigand had dealt upon his faithful friend and companion Magog Brand.
Jefferson's right arm came down like a steam hammer, and any man who had felt its full force as the scoundrel Mathias had did not forget it very readily.
Such a desperate shaking had it given Mathias that he had not yet recovered.
The bold, defiant bearing of the man was gone, and he looked ten years older than when Tomaso and he had last met.
It struck the visitor at once.
"Dear, dear me," exclaimed the latter, "is it possible that this can be the redoubtable Mathias?"
"It is he," said the governor, "yet scarcely so gay as is his wont, eh, Mathias?"
The prisoner shrugged his shoulders and sighed.