When he had finished his speech I bowed courteously, saluted the officers in military fashion, and followed the leader of the escort from the room.
Once again I was placed in the midst of the soldiers, and marched back to my cell, where they left me without a word. I sat down on the wooden bench which was my sole article of furniture, and tried to think over my position.
It seemed gloomy and hopeless enough, and turn which way I would, the only outlook was towards the scaffold.
As far as I could understand, the Austrians claimed the right to hang me on either of two grounds--the refusal to surrender with Görgei at Vilagos, and the fact that I was caught in the company of a notorious band of robbers.
The other points, such as my acquaintance with Count Beula and the slaying of the hussar, were mere garnishings, added by the wily Von Theyer to prejudice my judges, and prevent them tempering justice by mercy.
In this there could be no doubt he succeeded perfectly, and I felt certain that whatever I might put forward in my defence would prove of no avail.
Indeed it was likely enough my sentence had already been pronounced, and that at any moment I might be led out to execution. Every sound which reached my ears startled me, and a dozen times I stood up trying to calm the beatings of my heart.
But the day passed, and at night the jailer brought my black bread and water, and went away again as usual without saying a word. I ate and drank feverishly, and then lay down on the narrow bench wondering what would happen before the next setting of the sun. Very slowly and wearily the dark hours crawled along, until, utterly worn out, I fell asleep, to be awakened, it seemed almost immediately, by the rattling of keys and the creaking of the iron door. In an instant I sprang to my feet, and waited with taut-strung nerves for the final ordeal.
My visitor was the jailer, and as he placed my breakfast on the ground, I burst into a peal of hysterical laughter.
CHAPTER XXVI.