“I cannot well exchange for a worse,” said the youth calmly: “conduct me whither you please; I am resigned to my destiny. Paradise hereafter is for the wretched here, but not for those who make them wretched.”
“God is merciful!” ejaculated the soldier; “we are his instruments; he ratifies the punishment of those we doom to trial, and will reward his own instruments who perform their duty conscientiously. I have sworn allegiance to the Emperor, and if he were to command me to cut your throat, I should not only be justified in my obedience, but should receive the divine sanction for doing my duty.”
“This is the casuistry of tyrants; and with such a plea for murder, who can wonder that so many souls are freed from the incumbrance of mortal flesh amid the dark and secret recesses of the dungeon, where no eye can behold the horrible deed, but His to whose vision there is no limit, and to whose knowledge there is no boundary.”
“You say well, but you are too clever to be free. In these perilous times, princes who have wise heads upon their shoulders may be dangerous subjects; therefore, ’tis the policy of courts to keep them from plotting. The hand of Heaven has been here to-night,” said he, approaching the loophole, and surveying the opening which had been left by the thunderbolt: “the whole side of the mountain seems to have been splintered,” he continued, running his hand along the side of the cell where the mischief appeared. “We must try what stone and mortar can do in the morning. But the leap is too high to apprehend escape.”
By this time he had placed himself within the rift made by the lightning. His head was projected forward, and his eyes strained to pierce into the gloomy ravine beneath. This was too tempting an opportunity to be lost. The captive sprang forward, thrust his hands suddenly against the soldier’s shoulders, who with a scream of agony bounded from the edge of the opening, and fell like a plummet into the hideous gloom below. His body dashed through the branches; the chattering of the monkeys was heard for a few moments, and then all was still.
Happily for him who had thus opportunely got rid of a foe, the storm continued so violent that none of the garrison heard the cry uttered by the man as he was propelled from the rock, nor the crash which followed; and as he did not return to his comrades, it was naturally enough surmised by them that he was keeping watch over the prisoner, of whom suspicions of an unfavourable nature had been entertained since the visit of the fakeer.
About two hours after midnight the storm abated. The clouds rolled from the heavens, and left its blue plains studded with stars, which cast a dun dingy light upon the objects around. The air was fresh and balmy. A gentle breeze stirred the foliage, from which it tenderly shook the spray gathered there by the recent tempest. The breath of heaven fanned the prisoner’s cheek, and he felt as if it was kissed by the airs of paradise. He looked through the chasm which the lightning had formed in the mountain’s side upon the far-spreading sky, and his heart leaped with an effervescent and holy joy. The aspirations of freedom went up from his bosom on the wings of gratitude. He saw the means of escape before him, and the flush of hope radiated upon his brow like the moon’s light upon a calm solitary lake, in which its beauty is enshrined as flowers in amber. His thoughts were now free as the breeze which played upon his temples, and seemed as if imbued with the spirit of life. How the soul was tossed within him! but it was in a tumult of the most exquisite fruition.
He took the cord from a nook in which he had secreted it from the prying gaze of intruders. It was slight, but strong; and the hope of freedom subdued his fears of trusting to so slender a security. The difficulties of descending by so thin a rope were not easy to be overcome. The height from the ground on the side of the hill was at least ninety feet; and it would be all but impossible to slide from such an elevation by a rope scarcely more than the third of an inch in diameter, and which, being of silk, was so slippery that a firm hold of it could not be secured.
About twenty feet below the rift grew a thick bush from a fissure in the rock. The prisoner having secured his cord to a large iron ring in the door which closed upon his prison, fastened the silver mouthpiece of his hookah between the twistings, so that it crossed at right angles, and thus gave him a resting-place for his foot. Having made all secure, he slid down, tore the bush from the cleft, and with great difficulty regained his prison. He now continued to place, at intervals of about ten feet, small lengths of the stem and branches of the shrub, as he had already done the mouthpiece of his hookah, thus forming a kind of ladder.
Having prepared his frail instrument, he commenced his descent. He had passed the rope over a projecting crag above, in order to keep it clear from the face of the precipice. When he had descended midway, one of the steps broke, and he was left for a few moments clinging with desperate tenacity to the cord. He could not sustain himself—it flew through his hand; but his progress was fortunately arrested by the next step, which happened to be stronger, and sustained his footing. The shock, however, of his rapid descent gave increased momentum to the rope, which began to turn round with considerable velocity; and this was increased by every effort made to still it.